Officially Monday December 15, 2025

[Nancy]

Been trying to learn Notion ... sigh ... did ai comparison and one person said they've tried both
and recommended a paper notebook with pages. LOL So true!!!

Still windy sun is out now ... rain coming according to weather guessers.

Had lunch.

[Ramblinrose]

well since noon I have added8K steps just working around the house.

Office is finally put back together as is the guest bedroom and bathroom. Tree is decorated and I spent time adjusting the sliding glass doors. They really need to be replace so I have added that to the Jan. list I have going. The oven is clean and I need to wipe it out once it cools down.

I have a list going starting in Jan for projects I need to do around the house. Things like reorganizing closets and desks and similar things. I'm just happy to have my house slightly put back in order. My dinning room table is loaded with presents to be wrapped and other odd things but at least they are all together. I still have 5 Christmas cards to write...I may do more, we'll see.

Next up is dinner and then shut all my windows. I'm loving the cool air that is flowing through my house. Hopefully tomorrow will be just like today.

[blessedw2]

I had my sister in law - brother's wife - here for 4 hours - she was lovely! brother's wife.
She drove 2 hours to get here. she even brought us blackberries, peppers, corn for our freezer that she grew. she also brought us a cheese plate and a veggie plate.
I stay out of things - we did have a lovely time.

I didn't get much done.

I have challah for French toast tonight. I have more cookies baking from yesterday and some in the freezer.
I need to cut up fruit for tonight.

[lucylee]

I slept late -- really late, even for me. When I woke up, for a minute I was afraid it was TUESDAY and I had missed my 11:00 a.m. haircut appointment!

Quite a relief when I realized it IS "officially Monday."
Got notes organized for meeting tonight. (Church council.) (Lots of aggravation going on there; ds says just let it ride, pastor will be gone by June 1 if not before. She is having surgery in January, but only expects to miss a couple weeks.)
I had showered last night, so I just had to get dressed, and I put on make-up because I have a meeting at church at 6:00 p.m.
Put a load of clothes in the washer (they are now ready to hang to dry.)
Went to post office and should have paid electric bill, but I had taken the pen out of my wallet so I couldn't write a check. SMH.
Came home... took care of laundry...

Talked to dmom on the phone for a while. I'm still feeling such mixed feelings about last night's Sunday School party. I'll see a couple of the women tonight at the meeting so I'm going to tell them again that I appreciate them trying so hard to include me, and I probably should have gone, but I'm just in an emotional state right now and I don't know what I want to do or not do.

I needed something to eat and wanted Hunt's Brothers pizza from the service station near me, but they had sold out for the day, and dmom kept me on the phone while I was in town, so I just ate a small pack of saltine crackers.

Several gifts came in the mail, including the Christmas ornaments for dgrands, which I learned too late were coming from SPAIN! After church, I need to fold a load of towels and underwear which I had left in the dryer and I need to wrap some more presents.

Waving to ALL!!!

[Twins' Mom]

French toast from challah is delicious, bw2, what a perfect dinner for a cold night! We used to do "breakfast for supper" i.e. waffles or pancakes with hot chocolate and fruit on nights dkids had piano lessons. Quick, easy, and comforting on a cold night when it got dark early.

We are home! Maybe here an hour? I haven't unpacked at all but walked ddog around the block. She is one little happy girl. I did an instacart order while we were waiting for the gate. Got most the things that are "buy it again" that I know we use. The refrigerator is pretty empty so we'll have staples and breakfast food.

[MysteryWoman]

Finally back again! Cleaning off the tables took longer than expected. By the time I did that, it was lunch time, and then I had to clean up after lunch. Did my exercises and finally spun out the wash. Don't know what else I did, but I said prayers, got the car picked up, and got sucked into a video DC was watching. Finally, I went down and hung up the blankets and got another blanket started in the wash.

Nancy, I suppose a double rainbow is a nice byproduct of that rain. Pretty, I'm sure. You're not at risk for flooding, are you? They had a story on the radio about flooding due to that atmospheric river.

(((Oh, LadyM!))) I guess the familiarity of the symptoms is some small comfort.

And (((Rose))) -- glad to hear your brother has some guidance. And glad your strength training was worthwhile!

well since noon I have added8K steps just working around the house.

Just how big is that house??!!!

So, where did you end up, Cathy?

Glad Twins had safe travels. What a brilliant idea to order the groceries!

Glad you had a lovely day with your SIL, blessed!

lucylee, after a late night, you're having a busy day!

DH just handed me my credit card for the website where I get my clothes, so I'm presuming he ordered whatever he decided to get me. (I gave him a detailed list of items I would like -- a big enough list that I don't expect to get all of them.) This is good because I got an email from them this morning that said today was the last day to order with regular shipping. I need to get his shirts ordered tonight -- different place, of course, but I imagine the order deadlines are similar. In fact, I think I will postpone my plans to work on the playroom some more until after dinner and will instead do some online shopping. I don't think I'll be back tonight, so let me wish you all sweet dreams!

[CathyS]

I ended up going to a local grocery store to get a couple of things. Dh bought me bagels this morning, so I bought some cream cheese to go on the bagels. I also needed some russet potatoes for making scalloped potatoes on the 25thl I also got another dozen eggs. As far as that yellow bag of potato chips.... I don't know how that got into my cart.

So happy to see that Twins' Mom made it home safely!!

[lucylee]

Cathy, the same thing happened to me at local gas station --

I don't know how that got into my cart

--
I just went in for a personal pizza (theirs is not as good as the one near my house, but it is acceptable, and I was really hungry after the church meeting.) Wow -- before I know it, I was paying for pizza, Chex mix, Oreos, and TWO flavored drinks -- a cherry/lime Sprite and a vanilla Coke. I don't even know if I like those two drinks! They looked good, though.

The church meeting was... aggravating.
I have been the secretary for this council for MANY years. Apparently no one else wants it. Most positions roll off in 3 years, but I've been doing this for 25 probably. NOW, the preacher is using ME as an excuse not to put DS on as an "at large member." DDIL has been the young adult representative for a while, but she is rolling off this year. However, there are other members who are not rolling off and likely have been on the council longer than ddil. On top of that, after saying DS and I were members of the same family so should not serve together, they have appointed a husband and wife who will serve together for one year, before he rolls off his position in 2027.
I pointed this out to the preacher privately, after the meeting, and I told her that I would rather DS and ddil be involved than myself. That they are younger and need to be more active. I said I was happy to serve as secretary if no one else wanted it; I was happy to let someone else have it if they wanted it, AND I was happy to let it be a non-voting position if that was an option. She (the pastor) said that might be something we could consider.
Still, aggravating, considering it looks like the "rules" are applied somewhat arbitrarily. Rules for thee but not for me, you know. I will talk to the council chairman more about this. DDIL is still on one major committee and DS and I are on another (together) but I also told the pastor I did not have to be a voting member of that committee either.
THEN, on top of all that, the chairman -- who is one of mine, ds, and ddil's favorite people of all in our church, just a wonderful man -- he started telling about a new class that we will start in January. It sounds really good; it is about the new organization we have joined and the basic Methodist beliefs we are founded on, an excellent study for our "new beginning" and good for those who may not have grown up as Methodists. I looked over, and ddil was crying! She left immediately after the meeting and kinda brushed me off, saying she was fine.
She called me later and said this is the first thing she has been excited about in church at all for the past several years... and because she teaches a children's class, she will miss out on it. Well, I immediately told her I would teach her class for the 12 weeks of this study. I would love to be in the study group, but I have been a Methodist a lot longer than her, and it is more important to me that she and DS feel happy and involved in our church. I will get the book for the study group and learn on my own.
Not looking forward to teaching the K-4 class, but we'll manage.

The lady who invited me to the party and offered to let me go with her and her husband was at the meeting and I told her thank you again. I told her I've just been really emotional the past week or so and I didn't want to get out there and start crying, but I'm just in a spot where I don't know WHAT I want to do at any given time. She said she understood -- then caught herself and said, "Well, of course, I can't imagine what you're going through, but I know the holidays must make everything harder." I said yes, and then we laughed about dbil and dsisil getting the traditional gag gift that has been around for probably 20 years, and is a little bit embarrassing. So it was funny that they got it their first Christmas.
I told her I would HAVE to come next year to see who got it the next time. They were exchanging this years before, when I was in this class a long time ago.

Anyway, I'm home now and the towels are still piled on the couch. Surprisingly, no house fairies came in to fold them while I was out. AND the clothes are still on the exercise bicycle, waiting to be hung up in the closet doors to dry.
Better sign off for a while.

[Nancy]

The flooding is like 3-4 hours away from me I live on high ground.