Monday Hardships (Not!) ;)

[Nancy]

No news / weather is not a hard ship.
Slept well.
Dgd helped with hen chores and cookie making.
Toddlern will be here in a bit.
Dump trash x
Spiff kit. X
Next up sort & start laundry, sheets, chase cobwebs, mirrors, poofers.

[FelineFriend]

When I research for short stories, to make them more factual and based on fact, I learn SO MUCH! I just read about S. S. benefits for a young widow and her 2 children. I believe these are subjects that all parents and grandparents need to know. I feel good about myself when I learn something new.

Nancy, I'm glad your weather's not a hard ship. Heard the temps are lower there with a higher humidity, which helps fire fighters on the lines. I'm glad you slept well, too. I DID, TOO!

Helia, How nice to hear from you again! Your trip sounds so awesome. And I'm glad you get Internet, too!

LadyM, That's too funny about your DBro earning the onery critter award! Never heard of that turn. Learned something new!

Are you ordering "REAL" butterflies for LO? I'm crocheting a butterflies Granny afghan for dgd-18 months. ♥ And I found a butterfly dishcloth pattern, TOO! Butterflies must be the buzz word item today!

Harriet, I agree that the title is a "count-your-blessings" one, too. We have a better attitude and more optimistic outlook if we count our blessings. It's been my experience (especially from pen pals), how those who dwell on illnesses, pain, poor health, the deaths of everybody they are related to or know casually, and crime in their area plus bad weather, are the ones who seem to "attract" more negative things in their lives, too. Gratitude begets gratitude and you see more blessings all the time.

MT, I have my words run together ALL the time when I'm logging manuscripts! I get the red squiggly line, underneath words joined together like that, because of the publishing office program. So I type a paragraph, then go back to correct it. But I get my editing done before my editor sees my work and she says how I make her job much easier for her. It made me feel so good, when I read that! But it's like the space bar is begging for a thumb-whacking!

Kathryn, As far as not exercising yesterday goes- TODAY'S A NEW DAY!

I read a cute quote by Grandma Moses, the artist, but now I can't recall where I saw it, nor exactly what her words were. But it was something along the lines of if she'd never started to paint, she would've raised chickens. I told DH and Dgs-17, when he was here and they both cracked up! It reminded me of Harriet and Nancy, raising chickens.

[Nancy]

I did get news haf to update my tablet stuff uninstall and reinstall my breaking news app. Sigh what a pain. Time to get going with my next round of bwp cards.

[FelineFriend]

Good Afternoon, Everyone!

DH, Dgs-14 have had showers, are eating lunch, and I'm doing 1 LOL. DIRTY jeans of Dgs from working in the woods. I sprayed them with Spray 'n' Wash, to help take out the dirt. I put the dirtiness level on the washer on heavy, spinning highest spin, with a second rinse, on warm. That should do the trick. Dgs had a lot of pitch on his arms, so I got out my alcohol rub and cotton balls for him.

I ate lunch, read 2 real nice letters, am doing an about-face on the story I'm working on, changing the title/plot some. It makes it an easier-to-write story about children of a widow, who are very young and lonely. Everything changes for their family at Thanksgiving, so it's a story showing what to be thankful for, rather than focusing on the lack of a living father at home. I hope to be able to tug at the heart-strings of readers, making end happy with hope for the future, too.

I just remembered fixing supplements in my little half-egg-shell on a circular base, but I've forgotten to take them! I'd better run and do that while food in my tummy's still fresh in my tummy.

I was delighted to find a new blog with old patterns I've used in the past, circa 2011, etc...

Nancy, It's great you can get a breaking news app on your tablet, too. Good idea! Sorry it's a pain to do though.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Not a happy camper here. Dh suggested a bike ride. Great! But he chose rush hour. And only part of the route was on bike path. And that included having to walk the bike through the transit station (what part of it HURTS to walk does he seriously not understand - I've explained that it hurts as if each step I take is on a piece of lego.) Then there were stairs at the library but by then my knees hurt too. And the library is wonderful according to dh and a big room not much larger than our apartment according to me. But he likes it so much better than the other library branch because it is so much closer. The other one is by path until you are on residential streets.

Getting there wasn't bad but home was a nightmare because I tried a different route to get me to the path that would lead to the grocery store (which is on a path) but caught up in heavy traffic on the 'bike route' and turned the wrong way and ended up having to walk the bikes back, backtrack and take the way we came back, except that is not on the right road and we still had to drive on busy roads, past parked cars, during rush hour. It was not a success at all.

I can't stress how much I am not safe in traffic because I'm not fully steady when riding in tight quarters (the 2' between an overtaking car and the curb is my definition of tight quarters.) Apparently, dh doesn't understand. I think I'll stop riding with him because it simply isn't a pleasure.

[lucylee]

Wish I could post more -- lots I want to reply to -- but will just send HUGS to Kathryn -- and to Harriet for the dmil favoritism situation.
My hardship will be staying cool in the "hot 'lanta" temps. We are here -- I am on my phone at the ballpark. Hazy but no rain so far.
Y'all have a good night!

[FelineFriend]

Sometimes, Kathryn, men just don't "get it" when it comes to women and common sense things. If he's fine about going biking alone, then he'll just go. I think you're smart to do your "own thing". There's no way I'd be safe biking during rush hour in a narrow itty-bitty lane trying to keep my balance either. It's better to be safe and not have a biking accident. So if you go solo, I think you're using your head to do the best thing for yourself. SHE are powerful women. And we have common sense, too. We know when to go, and when to stay put. Riding needs to be a pleasure for you. I think you're using your head and perhaps if you have a solo ride, without your DH, being together again, you can be brought together, chatting about your rides together. It's a win-win situation, IMHO.

I'm trying so hard to get a story going, I started the plot, but jumped in much too fast, giving away the ending much too soon. I came into my office to grab my plot ingredients for a confessions story (outline) to go by. This way, my writing will slow down, will go in progressive steps, and the surprise ending won't be given away too soon. I'll try it out this afternoon, but by dinnertime, if it's not "jiving" - I'll forget it (since I've sent 2 Nov. stories in already anyway) and will concentrate on Dgd's afghan instead. Maybe doing a 3rd story by Aug. 1 isn't a good thing this time around. I want it to be cute- not a dreadfully written story that will be rejected.

[ejagno]

Thought I was really getting old but just realized I was only getting crazier. DH and I were on the roof installing a new metal roof over our deck. OMG, I don't ever remember sweating so profusely and kept thinking about how "soft" I've gotten in my old age that I couldn't take the heat or do a little manual labor without sweating so bad. We came in, took showers and I headed out to grab Subway salads for dinner. That's when I saw Weatherbug on my phone with 104º heat index. No wonder I thought I was dying. LOL I wasn't out there hammering for more than an hour when I just couldn't take it anymore and had to take a break. After 35 more minutes of working we both simply just had to quit. I love being outdoors and it's never bothered me like this.

Oh heavens, nothing else in store for me tonight.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Ejagno: one has to be careful in the heat no matter one's age. I think part of my crankiness was the heat index but it was no-where near 100!

Dinner is done and cleaned up. It was leftover chicken but each prepared ours the way we wanted it (I had a huge stirfry and have leftovers for lunch later this week.) Also had berries for dessert before washing up the dishes together.

I'm going to go to the bedroom and do physio for a while and them maybe just go to bed. I'm so exhausted and can't figure out why. At least when I got hepatitis I thought I was sick with the flu first before the exhaustion settled in completely, so I don't think it is a relapse. Possibly it is low-grade pain wearing me down (combined with lack of caffeine since I swapped back to decaf tea.) I didn't get anything accomplished today except refill the vitamin dispenser.

[Elizabeth]

Hi everyone! I have had lunch with my usual Friday lunch friend (she couldn't make Friday). Then, I had to get ANOTHER coolant gauge for the car. Of course, once I open the second, I will promptly find the first. It was only $1.29, but who needs two? I have filed my unemployment claim and done job search activities. I found 2 positions to apply for tomorrow. I have figured out a system to crisis clean in time for my dad's arrival Aug 5: I have written all zones relevant to my house, yard, and car on slips of paper. Every so often, I will draw one and spend 15 minutes on it. If more work is needed, they go back in the jar, else I throw them away. I am about to grab one now.

I truly need to get some animal org minutes done, but that is so BORING! I will do a 15 min item, eat, then do the minutes. As a reward, I will work on some Java programming.