Thriving on Thursday

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

It is wonderful to be firing on all cylinders so you sail through the day, thriving, not surviving.

That is my wish for all of you today!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm up and at it and have been for quite a while. The kitchen is tidied (but that was easy this morning, as there were only dinner dishes to put away.

I practiced all the cantata, this time pausing and moving to the keyboard to properly learn the passages I'm flubbing (I'd mark those at choir practice) and focusing on breathing. My diaphragm hurts now! I also went over the duet I want to learn with dh. Despite me asking, he hasn't practiced with me so I'm not sure what key he does it in. I can sing the key in which it is written, and to the recording of the song I have, but I note that dh has set it lower on his music which may mean I have to go an octave higher.

I have also got all the pieces ready to sew for the stocking. Just need to pull out and thread my machine. That will be a 10 minute sewing task, followed by 10 minutes of gluing and hand sewing on the bow and bell.

I chose the bell carefully. Over the years, as I realized I would be making these not just once for dsil but into the future, an unknown number of times, I started to squirrel away bells with the other supplies for these stockings. They were found when we shut down our parents' houses, some part of a worn out decoration, some still in their packaging, never used. So, while the stocking is new, it has a vintage bell on it and I try to make each one differen (looking carefully at pictures I've taken.)

A few years ago, dh came out of the office as I put up our stockings and commented the sound of the bell on his (which is distinct from mine and ds's since they were made decades apart) still fills his heart with joy when he hears it. So his stocking triggers memories through sight, sound, and touch. I hope my grandchildren will feel similar emotions from their stockings when they are adults. At the very least, I know I've stitched my love into them.

Before I sew, though, I will get dressed and have my breakfast.

Dh is out with ds for breakfast and then ds is coming here to sleep. I'm glad I did a slipshod vacuum yesterday. I had meant to fully clean on Tuesday but he was asleep here. I would have been upset to put off vacuuming much further.

I have until about 11:30, so 3 hours, before I have to leave with dh. I hope to get the car seat out of its packaging and installed into the car by then as well. If dgs is home (and awake) when I drop in, I want to size it for him. It is an easy adjustment but I may as well be ready to go, rather than trying to learn it while standing in the cold. If we need to adjust for Baby A or dgd, I'll be able to do so, but dgs is the most likely user of the seat in the foreseeable future. I need to see if it will go behind the driver's seat because I know the second seat won't fit there in rear facing mode.

If it doesn't, then he'll have to use it front facing which is against dd's ideal, although, after I bought it, she told me she would accept that in my car since it is infrequent. Most 3 year olds are front facing because parents turn the seat around as soon as the child is large enough. (My kids were moved around at a 14 months and in the case of dd and ds, it meant dd could pass ds things when ds was still rear facing.)

The driver can also make eye contact with them easily and point out things they'll find interesting. When they are facing backwards, it is much more difficult to see them (double mirrors work but are hard to adjust) and they can't see what I am seeing. Plus, if I say something is on the right side of the car, I have to remember that is dgs' left side. Yes, he knows his right from his left, which is surprisingly useful in many situations!

On the other hand, I still giggle when I remember dgs saying, "Mommy, if you keep going this direction, you will hit the building!" as she was backing up out of a tight parking spot!

[DeeClutter]

That is my wish for all of you today!

And right back at 'ya, Kathryn. So good to see you feeling better btw. Loved the part about the bells. I needed that this morning.

I slept till maybe 3:30, then was awake 'worrying'. Hoping all this insurance snafu goes away and real soon. I'm up and need (badly) to go eat some breakfast. BS was only 70 this morning & I'm feeling it. I'll be back after some sustenance.

[DeeClutter]

Well, while I was toasting my peanut butter toast for breakfast, our insurance man called. Hopefully he has things straightened again. He resubmitted our request for insurance and now I'm going to our email to resubmit our 'signatures'. Trusting as I go. He understood my 'worrying' and said this should not happen again, that it was the changeover from one 'Advantage' plan to another and with things going electronically and there was paper work submitted, yada, yada, yada. But, I'm just glad he was right on it this morning. Think this deadline is Saturday so very glad he put our mailing address as here so we'd get things in a more timely manner. If it'd gone up north then forwarded it would be way next week before I got it. Off I go>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I've had breakfast, dressed and took down a bin to the locker and brought up the new car seat.

Ds will have a short sleep today, he has to be up at 2:30 to get to his slot on the laser cutter and then a 12 hour overnight shift. He thinks he might be able to sleep on the job (literally) as tonight is not scheduled to be busy. Apparently 9 months before now isn't a prime baby-making time of year!

[DeeClutter]

Apparently 9 months before now isn't a prime baby-making time of year!

Finished doing my 'online thing' for health insurance. So, now just trusting everything will go smoothly. Insurance man thoroughly understood my anxiety though.

Now to do something productive. Dh and I are going to tackle the laundry room/pantry today. But first he wanted to do some outside work. So maybe I'll do the dishes from last night and at least start my exercises.

[Nancy]

I am up got up at 5:30 today. The sun is up now.
I had breakfast, got stuff out for dinner to mix up with my new mixer.
I have mixed up the meat loaf for dinner.
Thawing out the dill cheese bread to go with it for dinner.
I did some dusting in the bathrooms.

[Harmony]

Just doing miscellaneous stuff around here. We're still fussing with one of the paint samples. I got DH to go outside with me and put the last bag of mulch in the 2 places needing it. We do gardening chores year round here. With that done I put the last string of lights at the end of the bushes.

I have a women's program tonight at church.

Worked on my poor feet which are sore. I guess I've been on them too much recently. Soaked in epsom salts and worked on the calluses. One heel was beginning to crack and feel sore so I shall have to do this every day for a while. They feel better now. I put thick socks on to help.

Was in the 40's this morning now it's up to 60. Flannel shirts and pj's and sweater weather. It hardly ever gets cold enough for a heavier coat. I'm loving the light blanket I put on the bed too.

[DeeClutter]

Well, that plan all went 'south'. Dh had already done the dishes. Bless his heart! So I started on the pantry side of the laundry room. Got quite a bit done in there. Then dh helped me finish up. Brought all the Christmas baking stuff out. Threw out an unopened bag of flour bought at W mart evidently probably 2 years ago. Figured it might not be good for baking so why even chance it? Think dd is going to be pleasantly surprised when she goes in there. But that most probably will not be until tomorrow night. I brought out the 'baking cart' and figure I'll reorganize that & throw anything questionable. Our hope is to do all our baking in one day. Have a friend who does that and it works (at least for her). The problem is finding a full day early enough this month to do that. The one day she thought we could we have our Christmas dinner at church at 1 o'clock. So, we might have to spread it over the 2 days next weekend. This weekend she has a college hockey tournament at the Lakeland rink. Her 'bosses' at Orlando told her to go ahead and definitely do them ahead of Orlando because the pay is really much better & she only has to drive about 10 miles (each way).

Have to take dh to meet her at school, leaving here about 3. They have an Orlando Solar Bears hockey game tonight. Think I'll wait until I come back and do my exercises then.

[blessedw2]

hello all.