The first Friday of the New Year

[helia]

Also cleaned the stove top, which was pretty bad and cleared off the island and entry way as much as possible. Snow pants, gloves, boots, etc. from sledding last night were still lying around. Now the kitchen/entry way is orderly. There is a small pile of kids' stuff on the island still, including about 8 hats of dd18's. She kind of collects hats now and she got 4 or 5 for Cmas.

Just wanting credit for everything.

Hmm.... yeah, some interactions drain me as I'm interacting. Almost all interactions drain me eventually, even with those I love. After 23 years of marriage, dh is starting to understand this.

[Ivy]

DH got home, we put groceries away, I got a 27-gallon bin, for yarn, will get 1 more, then stack small bins empty inside each other for the floor of the closet. The "resolution" is to crochet up my "stash" this year, but looks like it'll take going into mid-year of 2015, to do it all. Only purchasing yarn for specific projects for dgd from now on, or a specific gift, if I don't have the proper yarn on hand.

So far:
s2s, dressed, got an Icy Hot back now.
sorted mail, wasn't anything except junk, but fortunately there were no bills.
watched the news, started dgd's leg warmer & a letter to a dfriend.
made the bed earlier, took dirty clothes to the laundry basket.
put yarns into new bin, tidied the bunny room after that.
set up a spot at the desk to sort and organize printed crochet internet patterns, will decide which to keep or pass on.
labeled dgd's mailer.
Put plastic bags into waste baskets.
Read and watched videos on "Chickens in the Road," Blog. So cute, funny....

Will do:
Finish my letter to my dfriend, or do an add-on letter over the weekend as....
I do the baby-stepping of 2 prs. leg warmers & a hat for dgd.
Need to journal more.
Sort through 2 little fat notebooks, to see which pages to keep, what to use the blank lined pages for.
Clean on my office again; missed desk day on New Year's Day, as was sick.
Need to dump offices' trash, dust, do toilets. Today's Conga Day, but my Conga's disappeared. Am slowly doing it in bits and pieces.
Thinking about making a stack of books to read, have magazines in a stack to read, need to read.

Don't "need" to do laundry, for there's not enough to do a load. Might read on 3 old journals pulled out of my hope chest, for smiles and story ideas. I cut out "rant pages" with an Exacto knife. Keep the good, discard the cranky stuff.

Sadie, It broke our bank the year I had rotator cuff surgery because I had PT from 1st week in Feb. and got released Dec. 30 that year. Had a root canal, which didn't help, too, so many bursa sac shots, etc.. The meds, etc... It's all so expensive. It's heavenly to be healed and be able to look back on it and let it pass. You'll be able to help others with your knowledge, in your lifetime, too. Praying surgery goes wonderful with great outcomes on the 8th. Can remember so well, your date, as it's the first b-day of dgd, too, that day. Hoping you can somehow let us know, if you can type one-handed, how you're doing, too. We'll patiently be awaiting word. Don't know if your DH is the type to help post or not. But certainly will be thinking of you and your recovery.

I'm rambling here! I'd better get back to the leg warmer. The challenge is to make it match the 1st one. Hoping to be able to pull it off. Will make a hat to match and found Caron soft in deep purple, to make 2 more leg warmers, as a sorta G'ma bonus gift, which will match the variegated purple and dark rose hat. Ddil was amazing how she used a sale at her store w/her employee discount to get a big bargain on the 3 skeins of 4-oz. each sizes, too. ♥

Have a wonderful later afternoon, keep warm, try to hang in there with your weather, if you're in an area stricken with ice and snow or power outages. So far, so good for us. Late-night midnight to 3 a.m. wind/rain storm for us, but all is well w/a partly sunny day. It makes my heart smile. Twice now I've said, "Oh, I must have left the light on!" then go to the room, but it was sunshine! It wasn't the light switch left on. How nice after such a terribly foggy New Year's Day.

[Lynlee]

checking in from Saturday.

thinking of all the busyness in your posts, wishing you well.
sending prayers and hugs.
tc Kathryn, lilac in particular.

yesterday was hot, today will be worse. I'm expecting my house to be 40+C and then quite a few. My brain cannot take that heat - I've decided.
I visited someone with a/c yesterday. Today I need to wash and remove much of ddog'd fur coat. It will be a trial for both of us. I cannot wait for a groomer to do this. They can tidy him up later if needed. He will need his nails done at any rate.

[Sunny]

Hi everyone. It was nice to see the sun here today; temp was 47* this morning and it warmed to about 55* this afternoon.

Happy Birthday Suzlew! Hope you are able to peek in once in a while -- we miss you posting here!

Conga Friday here was short and sweet. I was able to do a quick pupa in most of the rooms, s & s bathrooms, did a lol, processed a stack of papers that waited through the holidays and shredded a stack of papers I had collected. Tomorrow morning I will run the mop on bare floors and run the sweeper.

Lilac, I'm sorry for the news of dbro's fil. It's probably good for dd2 to take a break from running a business.
Sadie, sorry to hear about insurance problems for dh. It seems like they had enough time to get it finalized.
BookSaver, Lego time at the library sounds like fun; it's so nice that you spend that volunteer time there.
MT, the new meds should help you; I think this is a fairly common condition.
OKay, I struggle with evening snacking also. I have no trouble staying on track all day until just before bedtime. I just cannot go to bed with an empty stomach. I hope the glass of milk works for you.
...I know there was more I read -- just can't remember!

I have started a grocery/shopping list for next week...payday is Wed. Until then we are grazing from the freezer. I need printer ink and definitely have to get some before I can print the focus schedule!

We had a cooked meal at lunchtime so dh is having a bowl of cereal and I will have a turkey salad sandwich for supper.

[Nancy]

I have not been as productive today but have enjoyed my day. I did not sleep as well as I could have. I think my shoulder was sore from knitting and I did not knit that much I am just not used to it after taking Dec. Off from that. No kids here today.

[BookSaver]

I've spent almost the whole day on Lego club business.
Long meeting at the library because the director had to be caught up on everything children's librarian and I had already discussed.

We talked through tentative plans for getting started and then through the summer.

As I suspected, children's librarian has more than enough to do planning year-round storytime and every-day-in-the-summer activities. She said she's sure that any Lego sets I want to order and weekly themes I want to plan will be fine. (Oh, the power! )

I started trying to place the orders after lunch and I think it took about 3 hours, flipping back and forth and comparing prices, having items change prices or disappear from the screen altogether as they sold out. Blech!

ToysRUs first showed sets on sale for much less than A ma zon. Then when I filled the shopping cart and tried to place the order, they said "We can't ship these to your home, you'll have to come to the store to pick them up." I agreed to that, even though the store is an hour away ... and they said, "Hah! Too bad, so sad -- not available to ship to YOUR store." Well, sorry TRUs, if you can't ship to one of your own stores, you don't get my money.

WM showed sold out of everything but the expensive kits based on movies and tv characters. We can't afford to buy those.

Finally reworked the whole order with A ma Zon, and even then I lost a couple of sets that sold out between the time I put them in the cart and the time I was ready to confirm the order.

Which actually proves to me that Lego Club is going to be a popular activity for us, once we get ourselves up and running.
...
This post sat while I cooked supper and did some laundry, so now I feel like I've done at least a little something around the house. I'm going to eat and watch tv while I try to catch a second wind.

PS: Helia ~ WTG!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

At the airport hotel.

House is (hopefully) shut up. We are all packed.

I was able to move the books to the formal wear bag so we only have three but they are heavy. Two are over 20 kg, not a problem here but might be with Air NZ. Of course, by that time we'll have read the books and they won't be with us. As well, we will have consumed some of our other things (like shampoo, vitamins) so will have more space.

I feel absolutely awful. Achy and sore. And cold. And confined (my multiple layers of clothes are binding me.)

And worried. Worried I've forgotten something in all the rush to get out the door.

[Harriet]

Sending calmness vibes to Kathryn. I hope the trip is relaxing and stress-free.

Sending confidence vibes to Sadie. All best wishes for your shoulder. Isn't it wonderful how far advancements in surgery have come.

All of our household's Desk Day stuff was accomplished today but there is still more for my parents' household and I did not get out to have a notary witness the form for the estate. I've had frustrations about some bills. For instance, I already paid the dentist bill but have just gotten a new one that says more money is owed because they were surprised when dental ins didn't cover something. I find this so confusing. I waited until we were billed just so that we'd be on the same page. Also, I'm extremely discouraged about how little our dental insurance covers. Why do I have dental insurance anyway?

Managed to get some grocery shopping done, which was helpful. Dd is away spending the night with a friend, so my shopping companion was HRH. Very nice to be out riding around with him for a change. He also got gasoline for me (in the dark and cold, I was grateful for that), took trash to cans on the way out, and stopped on the way home to go in to the take-out door of a local restaurant and pick up salt-and-pepper catfish so I wouldn't have to cook! We seldom eat battered fish, so this was a treat.

BookSaver, what age group do you think will be most interested in your efforts? I know my older grandsons would be delighted to hear about such an opportunity. We purchased "6 to _ " age level figures for WonderBoy and "7 to _" vehicles for DangerBoy and they loved them. But also a different "8 to _" set for dgreatnephew12. Dd33 has specifically said that she expects Legos to be on the wish lists for years.

Proud of OKay for using the yucky garbage for a noble cause. So you would consider renovating at home while owning less land there? Sounds intriguing.

Emptynester, that sounds like the best of both worlds in flooring choice. Hope you like it a lot.

Interested in Twins' Mom, OKay and helia's discussion of feeling drained by interactions. I must agree with helia's opinion about all interactions eventually having some draining effect. Thankfully, most are worth it! Interesting that she mentions her dh. Here, HRH takes immense pride in how well he and I get along and it would upset him to know that sometimes, yes, he can be draining. So I won't tell him! But he forgets how much I hate "debate", which sounds an awful lot like argument sometimes, and he forgets that his broad, sweeping "answers" to simple questions make me feel rushed. I like to mull over decisions, and he is ready to move on a new idea, now. For instance, the lightbulb seems to have burned out quickly on the porch at my parents. Well, his answer is an immediate change of fixture. Sigh. Why can't we just change the lightbulb and see how that goes? Every problem that bothers me is seen as a call to arms by him. Sometimes I'd just like him to listen to me say, "this bothers me", and accept that for a while, rather than assume I expect a rush into action.

There is such a good discussion in Focus this week. Love it. Getting ready for an efficient year.

[OKay]

Our dining room table isn't big enough to fit 14 people around it, but FNG managed to do it anyway. We definitely have to be close friends to do that.

Watching college football. One of our state university is playing in the Cotton Bowl.

# Cards completed = 93
% Cards completed = 92%
Papers processed = 20
Healthy Habits completed = 72%

[helia]

Thanks Book.

We tried a new pizza place on campus tonight w/ high ratings on tripadvisor. It was good, creative, not very expensive. Also pretty empty with the students still gone. But probably not the best pizza in town as reviews said. . .

Dh and I picked up dd15. I've spent the evening working on teaching, just trying to pull out all the big ideas from the books I've read + cataloging the concepts we've gone over already. I did get my folder together this afternoon. It took longer than expected.

Harriet, funny -- I sometimes feel similarly about dh. I share some concern with him and he immediately wants to go solve it. I just wanted him to listen and empathize.

I'm looking forward to hearing about Kathryn's travels!

I snacked a bit too much tonight, but not as much as I have in the past. . .

I'm going to go to bed soon. I need to get an earlier start tomorrow. Dh wants to go out to eat with me tomorrow night, so that will be my reward for a productive day. I hope. I need to medicate the dogs' ears, with help, before heading to bed. . .