Saturday Smiles

[helia]

Back from jogging. It felt good! There were a number of people out running or walking. I have started a lol, helped dh and dd16 get the kitchen back ship-shape, started the rice for dinner. We're just going to have TJ tamales. I think dd19 is joining us but I'm not sure - need to find out. . .

((LO))

Nice to see MT!!

Wow, some of you have serious horror stories re: families in the neighborhood! Maybe I'm naive, but we were absolutely fine with our kids' friends and playdates and sleepovers elem. school on up, no bad stories at all. Maybe that is b/c our kids were never a part of the "popular crowd." Well, ds did have one friend we weren't thrilled about, though we never felt like ds was in danger with the family. It was just that the family had different values than we did. We prayed about it for awhile, and the boys ended up going to different middle schools, thankfully - and that stopped that friendship. If anything, some of the elementary school kids (and their parents) were annoying b/c of being so competitive regarding academics and other achievements. As a non-PhD SAHM in this neighborhood, I felt a bit like a 2nd class citizen. But I think now that was just me. No one every said anything derogatory to me about that, and one friend, a public policy professor, outlined to me the economic advantage to staying home. Anyhow, we generally have a very family-friendly safe (and over-achieving) neighborhood. This is the neighborhood that has pulled together to support one member, the afore-mentioned public policy professor, who was diagnosed with ALS 7 years ago. (This is the father of the family who went on sabbatical to Australia the same time we were there. We met up with them a couple times while there! They were in Sydney.) There is now an organization that meets regularly, and they now have some annual events, like a fun fair every spring and a soap box car race every fall, to raise money for ALS research. Two or three women (2? plus a friend or 2 not in the neighborhood?) even swam the English channel to raise $$. . . This neighborhood just has a lot of heart in it too; and a lot of drive and initiative. They also have a theater group that puts on a musical every year, and they have a family friendly foot race every year too - lots of kids in it. OTOH, I do know no neighborhood is completely safe b/c all sorts of people do bad things. --Sorry so much!

Forecast has been changed to 12+ inches. Will they cancel church?

I'm going to find out if dd19 will be joining us. . .

[DeeClutter]

Thanks for popping in, MT. Hope your ankle stays good enough (and really gets better) over the summer. Knew you were probably just busy, but inquiring minds needed to know. Know what you mean about the Clerk's job. Thinking yours must be even more involved than mine -I don't need a web page. But it's busy enough and still manage to 'miss' something. For instance I was never told that one of our younger members was married this last summer and so the name was not changed nor the marriage announced on our statistics page. But you'd think it was 'our fault'.

Didn't realize you were to get so much snow, Helia. Stay safe. Did dd19 end up coming for dinner?

[Lady Maverick]

DD just txt that she is taking off work tomorrow (she just started working there on Tuesday) and is going on a date. DD ended a relationship last weekend with a fella that was fairly serious. He didn't want it to end and is talking about moving to be close to her. Oh and she is still married. Sometimes I think it is better to not know what (who?) she is doing.

LO feels rotten. Poor fella. I told him he should feel better on Monday. Hopefully the worst will be over after 48 hours.

[Nancy]

I am smiling now. Back from our date. In the fall I tried to order a wagon for me but they were discontinued. Today I found one on clearance! So happy can't wait. Gardening will be fun this spring. H read 4he directions while I hunted up the tools.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Dh and I tried out a diner next to the grocery store. It was quite good. For winter they offer schnitzel so we both had that.

Then we picked up a roasting chicken for tomorrow's dinner.

The walk was really chilly. It is much warmer than yesterday and there's no wind, but we went out when the sun was out yesterday and today it was after dark. The sun is strong enough now to make a difference.

[lucylee]

* whew * Happy to say I have made progress:
[x] exercise -- walked away the pounds 15 minutes
[/] change sheets -- I did wash the new sheets, and they are piled on the bed right now, so that is not completed, but another 15 min. and it will be!
[x] s2s
[x] color hair I think it adds more than 30 minutes total to s2s time.
[x] clean (air-out) humidifier
[x] Bible reading
[/] make out clearing list/OMM for coming week
[x] errands
-- bank, deposit dh's check, get cash for weekend
-- store, we're out of Diet Coke, this is an emergency situation around here
-- supper
[x] ate supper
[x] declutter magazines
[x] upload pictures from computer to Walmart, order prints
[x] proofread essay and emailed back to dfriend
[ ] water plants
[ ] write check for newspaper man
[ ] computer clean-up chores
[ ] dust, vacuum (skipped this week b/c of dmil's decluttering)
[ ] mop kitchen & baths (I don't know why this is so urgent, I've skipped it for over a month)
[ ] s/s dh's shower (a 5 min task, but it got skipped Thurs while we were at dmil's decluttering)
[ ] s/s toilets

So, I promised 6 items completed, and I have 9 and 2 more well underway.

Also happy to see MT! But sorry to hear your ankle is giving so much trouble.

That Hipzbag sounds sooo nice, but I'm afraid I'd be one of those people who can't manage with such a small purse. I need more of a hobo/tote style purse, I think.

I don't have any horror stories from sleepovers or playdates, really, helia... although I'm sure sometimes we got into stuff we shouldn't... but like I said, I'm just more paranoid now. I wouldn't really have been concerned about any of ds's friend's parents, either, * at least, not until the shooting occured * but ds just never really wanted to spend the night with anyone, and he never asked much to have anyone over. And I have always worried that my introvert tendencies rubbed off too much on him in that way, but he always seemed happy, and it seemed that after school and ball practice, he was pretty content to be home alone to relax and do his own thing.

(((LadyM))) Hope everyone feels better soon, and hope your dd... finds her way? I don't know what I'm really trying to say... but I do sympathize with how much stress this has to be adding to your life.

Waving to ALL! Hope you all have a great night. I'm going to get those sheets on the bed, and then later, dh and I are going out.

EDITING to add one more [x]!

[blessedw2]

I felt the same as you d helia re non-phd SAHM..I found it was my thinking not others in the neighborhood at all. We do have the same thing about competition - I found that 99.9 % 0f parents here are very caring loving people.

I have had couple times that there was an issue..
1. I was a brownie leader with my eldest and my youngest was a new born baby... I had a girl whose parents didn't pick her up.. I called the phone numbers and no answer... I finally had to go find her parents (2 hours later in snow) ... they had an argument and had forgotten their daughter. The sad thing was the girl was nonplussed. She pretended it didn't bother her.

2. I knew this one family who I wasn't sure of - not that they were unkind; but had different ideas of when to leave children alone and other more major things when their children reached high school. dd younger was in first grade and I let her play at their house.. I had met the mom and dad a couple times and they seemed ok but I was still a bit uncomfortable - I thought I was just being silly. They left dd younger and their daughter alone - they were in the beginning of first grade - they never called me to ask if it was okay - it was dd younger who called me to tell me as she was uncomfortable.. I waited there until one of the siblings came home as I couldn't leave the girl home alone after I picked up dd. It was a long time before anyone showed up. I found out the girl had been left alone since kindergarten and it wasn't a big deal to them. They loved their children very much but had a different parent style than my own. Lots of things happened at that house because the parents were completely unaware. Unfortunately that house was known and not in a good way.

[Sunny]

Hi everyone. Did you all see that at 6:28 pm Dee posted the 39000th post here in PWYC??

We had another nice sunny day here in FL. Temps have been in the 50s at night and 60s daytime. We're supposed to have rain/t-storms come Monday. I've seen weather forecast for Blessed and Helia is supposed to be snowy! Stay warm and safe both of you and your dfamilies!

Yesterday I woke up early after only 2 hours sleep on Thurs night - just couldn't relax my mind enough to drift off. But dh had a dr. apt (INR) after taking dgd13 to school. I was going to ride along with him, but he said no, just stay and get some more rest. He called on his way to office to say they got up to the school, but she wanted to go home again as she wasn't feeling well. I texted ds to let him know and he said she would be all right there with ddog until ddil got home from school. By the time I heard from him I was up and dressed so decided to get some breakfast, putter through the kitchen and straighten up the bedroom. I stripped the bed and gathered a lol of sheets and towels and another lol of my clothes. I got the first lol done and remade the bed and folded another basket full of clothes from before I got sick put away. I still have my clothes to wash and dry. By that time I was tired, so after lunch I rested in the afternoon.

I slept better last night and woke early again this morning. I felt pretty good and wanted to get a start on all the catch up I have from the last two weeks. No company today, (ds#1 had to work), but dfam#2 should be here tomorrow. Today is trash pick up day so dh had taken the can out to the curb first thing. On his way back he brought in a bag of donations to a charity that was supposed to pick up yesterday and didn't! He tripped coming in the kitchen door --- he has a habit on not lifting his feet high enough when going up a step. I happened to look down the hallway and see him sitting on the step going into the laundry. My heart dropped because it is always hard for him to stand up when he falls. That was about 8 am. It took us 3 hours to get him on his feet again! I cannot lift him like our sons can, he's 6 ft. tall 200 lb., the problem is not enough strength in his legs to help. That is the result, we believe, from his having taken L ipitor for more than a few years. One of the side affects is muscle weakness! Anyway, he tried scooting across the kitchen floor to the dining room doorway into the family room hallway. What works better is to get onto his knees and pull himself up to standing in front of a living room chair. We tried that and that didn't work either. So he ended up scooting to the front entry and sitting on that step so he could use the hand rail with one hand and me pulling with the other arm. That worked, but it took that long because he had to rest in between. While he was resting I made his breakfast and fed the ddogs then washed up the dishes. I told him he better not leave me because he could never live alone!

BookSaver, I always enjoy reading about your preparations for your groups projects. I hope everyone enjoyed the Fancy Nancy Party! Can't wait to hear about it!

Nice to hear from MT.

I hope LO gets better soon and no one else catches what ever it is. Btw---I agree with what everyone has said re: weird dad. It's much better to be cautious about LO's friends!

Nancy, so nice that you got to sleep in along with the Roo!

Helia, high fives for dd16's music review!

Lilac, hope you enjoy the super bowl party (hope dh is feeling well enough to go).

Re: boyfriends and dating.....it was a bit different for dh and I as parents of three sons. The etiquette we taught our sons came in handy when they were meeting their dates' parents! Now, with five granddaughters it's their turn. They tease about grilling the potential boyfriend, but I know they are very cautious when first meeting a new "beau". We have met dgd17's (VA) boyfriend, and he is very nice. They've been dating for almost 3 years.

Well -- that's all I can remember at the moment. Waving hello to Everyone, and hoping all are safe and warm during the coming storms.

[blessedw2]

d sunny hello!

[FelineFriend]

Had a 3-hour wait at Urgent Care, where the ins. co.'s nurse said to go within an hour. It was a "hurry-up-and-wait" situation. Ugh. Need to get into 1 - 2 Dr.'s this upcoming week, for an "eye issue" again, but this time it's "different" than the usual junk.

Looking forward to the Super Bowl tomorrow!

Have a great night!