SHEs Organized

Thank you, Twins. Sounds yummy. Will let dd do it 'her way' in the smoker this time but think I'll try it 'your way' down the road.

I posted charts of our local C19 data on the local FB group and the data has prompted several questions and discussions. This week our State health dept posted their data including documentation showing over the past 3 months wearing a mask vs not wearing a mask only made a 1% difference. Wearing a mask (or not) seems to be the hot topic of the year and lots of people are passionate about sharing their thoughts.

I made a trip to the closest grocery store and picked up a few things. It felt good to get out of the house and be by myself for 30 minutes.

Both kids are working well on their school assignments. They are focused on getting their work done for the week so they can have unrestricted play and wifi time.

TA-DA — 15 min ZONE (Christmas) — got cards in the mail, straightened up my card box 1:00 pm

I was just too tired to do much more. I have the table set and I went ahead and walked the dog. I am going to relax for a bit.

Got the lol folded but not put away -dh was snoozing in the bedroom. Dsonil, dd and dh have all left to go to his Mom's house and do more packing/loading. They're in crunch time now. It's a good trip back there as they were able to get more boxes and paper for wrapping. DD will go to the ice rink from there and the guys will come home.

Just finished doing up the dishes. Dh brought lunch for me earlier from C ulver's but I'll have it for dinner. Imagine they'll stop back by there for a bit before they come home. It's literally just around the corner (more or less) from his Mom's so sometimes too convenient.

Will go take care of the LOL now and then get riding my 'bike'. Won't come anywhere near yesterday's amount of steps for sure since it was 15,000. I'll be lucky to meet my goal of 8,000 and the bottom goal for our $1's back from health insurance is 7,500. So that at least is my aim.

Dee there are recipes online that are similar if you google "brisket with coca cola" if you want more specific directions. I only wrote them down a couple of years ago when I did a demonstration for a temple group. Whatever quantities, it seems it doesn't fail.

Dh sliced the brisket and mixed up the latkes. He starts with country style hash browns as a shortcut. In the past he and his crew have made hundreds for the temple, it's not the same. Challah to go into oven soon.

I'm trying to post the times I do the 15 min. tasks, trying to figure out when my "peak" times are. LOL -- "my" and "peak times" in the same sentence. But surely EVERYONE has SOME time that is best for them, right?

DH is in the shower and as soon as he gets dressed, we're going to get dgd; she's spending the night tonight. Then dgs tomorrow.

Twins, that brisket sounds sooo good...
I know lots of people who use Coca-Cola for bar-b-que sauce for chicken and pork, so I know this is delicious! I am hungry now...

Dee, I need to do some laundry for ddil. Brought home a HUGE basket of the kids' clothes.
I'm not doing great on my steps for today, but I will try to exercise when dgd gets here. She loves to have a "challenge," LOL... dance challenge, exercise challenge, whatever. She invents a lot of games that involve movement too. (I am exhausted by the time she goes to sleep! With dgs, it's mostly just LISTENING to his constant talking -- which is priceless, I must say.)

LadyM, I have to agree, I think this would be the results here, too:

wearing a mask vs not wearing a mask only made a 1% difference.

DH and I still put ours on dutifully at least 99.99% of the time, and the governor has extended the mask "order" till Jan. 22. But it seems our numbers have gone UP instead of down, ever since the mask order began. Of course, it's "flu season" so where would our numbers be without the masks? I have no idea... I'm just thinking aloud. I put the "orders" in quotes, because there's no penalty for not wearing one; it's basically a peer pressure thing. I totally forgot to put one on when we went to the football game last week and no one even gave me a second look.

I need to vacuum too.

WTG, Cathy! I think I am finished, except for small stocking stuffer items and I wish I could think of some little something for ds & ddil. They want and * NEED * money, but I love to have some sort of surprise for them, too. I have had absolutely ZERO inspiration on this sort of thing this year.

I know y'all will LOL, (because I am such a reluctant and boring cook) but like Rose mentioned, I love cookbooks and China too. I would LOVE to have a whole set of everything Fiestaware makes.... but I don't know where I'd put it, and I'd hate to just get rid of my casual wedding China... and no one ever eats on real dishes here except dh and me. If I have a crowd, I'm doing paper plates. I also have beautiful formal China from our wedding, and a set of sorta-casual grocery store dishes dmil got me. * sigh * I do NOT need to start collecting Fiestaware.

I sat with DD9 and wrote her math problems for her to speed up the process. Every problem has to be copied from the computer screen to paper so there is a chance of writing the problem down wrong. By writing her problems and the answers she gives, it makes it go twice as fast. I don't tell her what the answer is or how to do the problem. For each step in solving the problem, I ask "Okay, what is the next step?" and she will tell me. I don't consider this to be cheating or hurting her in learning. If she attended B&M school they would give the problems to her on paper and she wouldn't have to transcribe them from the screen. It just seemed to be necessary to GET IT DONE after 8 hours of her working on assignments. Otherwise, she would still be working on those double-digit multiplication problems till midnight or later.

DS12 is working on his math assignments still. He has spent hours outside today instead of doing his assignments. He was being productive outside, helping DH, and also playing with neighborhood friends. He knew the schoolwork had to be done but he chooses to do it when he couldn't be outside. DD9 doesn't want to play outside so she isn't tempted by it. DD9 is now finished but DS12 is still working. It all evens out.

I wear a mask 100% of the time when I'm away from home even though we have no mask mandates requiring it. I wear a mask out of respect for the people who become stressed and anxious when around people who aren't wearing a mask. It doesn't bother me if others wear a mask or not. If I had to be in close contact with people I might feel differently but I keep a large personal space around me 99% of the time.

Our tree has zero presents underneath it.

I ordered smartwatches for DS12 and DD9 to track their steps and number of sleep hours. The ones I ordered are 1/10th the cost of the leading brands. If they do a good job of using it and taking care of these, then I'll consider getting them a better one later. This is the same process we used for them having a phone. First, they get a cheap one until they prove they can take care of it.

So now DD9 will have 2 gifts to open and DS12 will have one. Baby stepping progress being made.

DD was the victim of a 'workplace' accident today. She was working on something and one of her students came through carrying a 2x4x10 plank & turned. You guessed it -hit her in the cheek beneath her eye -the opposite one of the black eye from surgery. Now she's well on her way to 2 black eyes. No one was in trouble it was just 'one of those things'. Student feels horrible. She told him, "Go home and tell your Mom you hit your teacher today."