The Trend on Tuesday

[Nancy]

Great room down stairs is looking better all the time. Glad I am focusing on it w-a-a-y over due. The sewing laundry zone is in upheavel at the moment to be expected hoping to get it back in order before the new year. Sigh I know this is nomal but frustrating me to no end bc I cannot seem to keep up I know you all know what I am talking about! I have paper piles to sort supplies from. Pen and ink days to decide on have migrated in there sigh! Music helps!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

LM Regarding LO moving off the grandkids list. Perhaps it is a sign the adoption is emotionally finalized!

I went swimming. It took me 3 hours to convince myself to get out the door to the pool. Hit the water at 11:36 for 30 minutes. Tried out the new hot-tub (not all that warm but warmer than the pool which was quite cool today) but there's only one jet working at the moment.

Got out of the change room at 12:50 and home at 1:20 after picking up Subway to eat here.

Need to respond to a business email and then I'll get back to working on the mini-lights.

I heard a piano being played while I was in the dining room. This is bad news for dh who was thinking of using that room for recording his next online training course. Looks like he'll have to use the spare bedroom instead. We have new neighbours downstairs (been there about a month) and we are starting to hear more and more from down there. There is also the smell of stale cigarette smoke in my hall and living room. I smelled it a few days ago and thought it might be a sign the snowflake lights were running too hot. Now I know the smell was just coincident with the lights.

[FelineFriend]

Hello, Villagers!

We're in the icy temps of the 20's, so DH did not leave at 9:40 a.m., for Costco, as the roads were unsafe to travel. He's going to the grocery store/pharmacy at 12:30 p.m. though, to get groceries and a prescription. The temps warm up tomorrow, then rains come on Thursday, which will be nice.

So far:
- d2s, fixed hair, etc...
- made our bed,
- put dirty LOL in utility room basket,
- had quiet time, finished writing in 1 journal, got the new 1 out,
- did/read emails,
- gave DKitty water,
- fixed coffee,
- saw a.m. news, part of a game show, but then got busy. (DH can't believe how I leave TV shows, and don't finish watching them!) He seems "married" to TV! I "heard" from a friend, once, how men express themselves and feel their emotions, through watching TV, somehow. I guess it's an outlet, etc... Yes, I've seen DH moved to puddling up a bit, too, when something very sweet and heart-warming is on TV. I think it's good, how a man can be masculine AND sensitive at the same time. It used to surprise me, but now, I like it.

Need to:
- write 2 pen pals letters; send 1 a card,
- crochet a bath tub puppet for DGS-5.5 years,
- wash 3 afghans & 1 scarf, to make them nice & soft before wrapping,
- read a lot!
- do 3 outlines, but have the title & ideas in mind,
- sort & do the mail,
- date my steno pad pages, which I use to tally up daily fluids intake and write down times of some OTC & prescribed meds, (I get low blood sodium, from drinking too many fluids and not having enough salt in my system, so I "need" to keep a record of what I drink, so I don't end up in ER with an electrolyte problem. So many times, an elderly person's brought/taken to ER, the first thing they do is fun a CBC, so often, it's their low blood sodium, which caused their dreadful symptoms, when people/family around them thought they'd had a stroke, were getting Alzheimer's, etc... and it was all because they drank too many fluids. I did a "Google" search on the symptoms, causes, and dangers of this, and they were mind-blowing. Hence, my reason for the daily fluids tally. I'm fortunate that I CAN eat salty foods or put salt on my eggs; my nurse suggested putting salt on my eggs, because of this. Oh, the human body is so fascinating!

I think the only thing trending at our house is:
- my getting gifts all ready for the holidays,
- getting my 2015 outlines done,
- keeping warm in the frigid temps,
- keeping the maintenance cleaning done, leftover from pre-Thanksgiving,
- keeping my reading/study current.

DH's trending by keeping the wood fire burning, the wood bin stocked up, and doing his various chores. He's a good guy.

Have a great Trend on Tuesday! Waving at you all!

[Twins' Mom]

I have done a fair amount of work for the religious school but also went back to bed for awhile. I am so cold in this house - the thermostat is on 72 and outside is 59 degrees but my hands and feet are freezing.

Chalk up another day with me in pajamas and dogs unwalked at 2 p.m. We're having a foggy and damp day and it makes me feel lazy.

I need to get moving - dh will be out this evening so I don't need to cook dinner and I have a free block of time to work with.

-s2s
-start a lol
-empty the dishwasher
-clear kitchen counters
-walk ddogs

[helia]

OK, true confessions which I would only confess here. I'm trying to pay some bills and get caught up on paperwork and accounts here. I just now opened up Quicken, which is the 2003 version, mind you, and discovered that my last entry was dated Dec. 11, 2013. . . . I am literally laughing outloud!!! OH MY GOODNESS!! I imagine some of you are absolutely horrified at this. I'm thinking of Twins, Harmony, Kathryn and others who keep the books. I think I'm so horrified . . . I find it hilarious. I'm hopeless at this. However, believe it or not, I'm better at it (more detail oriented in this area) than dh, which is why I took over many many years ago. OTOH, dh did try to convince me to stop tracking and using Quicken at all a couple years ago, so he doesn't think it's that important. We do save, and we do live debt-free. We both dislike shopping. And we can track things online. But still, I need that info to figure out how much I owe a missionary we support through checks and not via online giving. . . .

I'm finding that with payroll not in my life, I have more time and am getting less done.

Back to taming the paperwork tiger.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Helia: While my Quicken regular accounts (bank and credit card) are only 2 - 3 months behind (and sometimes less), my trading accounts haven't been touched since Jan 31 this year. So we are good company (or bad influences) for each other.

I finished my business work for the day (I hope.) Ran a load of laundry as well.

I'm on the treadmill now (my computer's battery was low and this was the nearest plug) but will pop off in a moment and start dinner. I'm just waiting for the washer to chime. There's a bad squeak here which I've figured out has something to do with my hands on the keyboard. It never happened at the house so I'm guessing something around the console needs tightening.

Speaking of Quicken and treadmills, I'd love for more space to lay out documents so I could walk and do data entry at the same time. I can't see how it would work but it would be wonderful. Simple data entry is brain dead enough that I should be able to do it at the same time as walking slowly (not at 3 mph but closer to 1.5.)

[FelineFriend]

Harmony , I forgot to say how I've got a portable Rubbermaid file box, with hanging files in it, in my small office, for expenses, contracts, and some stories, which could be done, and old poetry, articles, etc... I have no clue (am I showing my age???) where, exactly, we got it, but we used to have a local Office Max we frequented before they closed. I like it because it's portable, whereas our tall 4-drawer filing cabinet is not.

Another reason I can "get away with" having more sodium, beside having the low blood sodium problem, is my blood pressure is very low. I know I'm blessed with that. DH has high blood pressure, takes medication for it to be normal and a lot of my pen friends have high B. P., too. Ddad had it, both mine AND my DFIL, so they had in-home B. P. Cuffs, to take their B. P. daily, which was great for them to have.

I put dark clothes into wash/extra rinse. I'll do whites next, then will "try" to start washing the 3 afghans & 1 scarf, to make them smell pretty & feel much softer, too. Then, if I'm "on a roll", I'll wrap/label them, put them into my hope chest, until we celebrate and/or deliver gifts.

Also, I owe 2 pen friends letters, but decided to write my BFF instead, first, because she's recently had eye surgery. I wanted to ask her something about her deceased DH's age, when he passed away, too. I wondered if he was as old as my DH, or if he was younger or older.

It's sunny, it's 35.7* now, so it's warming up. The sunshine on the icy grass is so beautiful, too. Wow. The birds haven't been out, but the feeder needs to be filled up again. The bird bath has frozen water, too.

I heard on TV that Disneyland and Disney World have Else & Anna in a parade there AND Else's Boutique so little girls/teens can get their hair done. I guess one 6-year-old girls eyes lit right up when she saw Else in the parade, too. For my b-day, I got a B 'n' N gift card, so I got "Frozen," with some of the card's amount. I love this DVD. Now, I've heard, last night, they're making a sequel! I'm so excited! They have Else & Anna dolls, too. Oh, am I a little girl at heart?

Holiday music is playing on our cable music TV channel and it's such a lovely variety and certainly puts me in a good mood. I WAS NOT in a "bad" mood, though. But this music is so uplifting and happy, you can't help but smile and walk a bit faster.

Have a great afternoon, Everybody! DH has left for the store/pharmacy and will get mail on his way home. I'm expecting the companion book to "The Four Agreements," by don Miguel Ruiz. Looking forward to that. I hope the temps warm up more this afternoon, as I'm chilled. I have leg warmers I can wear though & I put on Under Armor with a fleece top.

[Twins' Mom]

The trend today may be underachieving...Helia, IKWYM about this:

I have more time and am getting less done.

This time around:
-reboot laundry
-make the bed/straighten MBR
-deal with 10 pieces of paper off this desk
-ck mother's accounts online, credit card and bank
-refill meds containers

[helia]

Well, this screen is open so I must have been planning to post??

Hmmm... am I a good influence here or a bad one, Kathryn and Twins? LOL! It's always nice to know one isn't alone.

Done with that set of bills/updates. Dh called in the middle so I chatted to him for a while. He's traveling from London to a 2nd meeting (different funding agency) tomorrow in Cambridge. Then, he's flying to the NL to visit his sister in one city and then taking the train (about 1.5 hours?) to his ddad's place in another city, so he's going to be doing a lot of traveling. He's already exhausted. . . Anyhow, dh thinks I should not fuss with Quicken and just keep a notebook/paper ledger for the items I need to track. Isn't that kind of the purpose of Quicken, though? I am sometimes amazed that dh works in the "high tech" world.

I have thrown away and recycled the appropriate debris from my paperwork. I now have a small stack of filing to do and several envelopes to prep for the mail. I can't figure out if our local newspaper subscription is up to date or not. I've checked the website but it is the lousiest web site I've ever seen, and I can't find that info anywhere. I may have to call.

Dd16 came home with a friend. The friend is now gone and dd16 is off to her oboe lesson. I'm going to head out the door to the gym and to TJ and the pet store - if I have time.

[Sunny]

Just a quick post as doggies are telling me it's suppertime. We've been a little cloudy all day, but no rain so far and temps in mid 70s.

I'm trying to keep the trend going of doing a little decluttering every day. It is slow going but making a little progress

LadyM.....I'm sorry to hear your dh suspects another kidney stone. Good thing you do have a good doctor willing to help quickly. I'm happy that you had a good visit with dfamily for Thanksgiving.

FF.....good job on getting your Christmas organized and cards in the mail. That's way earlier than I ever get them ready.

MT.....I'm glad you were able to have PT and hope the new shoes and inserts keep your feet from hurting.

RRose.....Hope your headache is gone. I'm happy you had a good visit with ds and dgfriend!

Helia....I'm glad you have Dec. to catch up on things before going back to work in Jan.

It was nice to read of the nice visits everyone had with dfamilies this past week.

I'm still trying to tame paperwork here. I'm glad I'm not alone. The main goal is to not have as much paper, but not go entirely on computer with it as well, just be more organized. I use the mini yellow tablets to write notes on and go through them at times to make sure things are copied to my calendar or planner. I like crossword puzzles and take a book with me when we drive somewhere, or while in a waiting room, or I do a couple in the evening. I have a habit on writing notes in the margins, so when I finish a book I go through it to either follow up, cross off or transfer the note somewhere. I also use post it notes for a quick reminder.

Hello to everyone. I'm going to see about the ddogs supper, dh is heating ours now. I also want to check out our new Dec. threads.