FINISH IT UP FRIDAY

[helia]

Good morning friends! I can actually stop by in the morning today. I'm feeling pretty good right now, though was tired first thing this morning.

Wow, the twins are graduating. How did that happen? Congratulations to them both, Twins! And a special congratulations to dd on her award, even if she is the only grad in that dept., and on her mature outlook shared on fb.

Yesterday: I was out of the house for 12 hours total. It was a busy and pretty exhausting day. I left the house at 8:20 a.m - stopped by TJ for coffee and then went to moms group. I was the upfront teacher yesterday. I think it went well, but the women were so eager to talk about this topic [strong-willed children], that I was facilitating whole group (35-40 women present) discussion for about 25 minutes in the middle of the morning. Not what I had planned to be doing at that time or for that long. They were bringing up points that were elsewhere in my plans/on my handout, so, I tried to work those in (out of order) as we went and finally got them back together to do the Bible study portion in their small groups. Anyhow, dfriend (another teacher in the group and also the children's ministry director) commented to me afterward that it was a bit like herding cats. LOL! I was just happy the women were engaged.

I got home from moms group about 12:15, did some work, and then left again around 1 pm. I was home from work a little after 6 - just in time to meet dh arriving home with ds! So, we had a full house for dinner last night, all 5 of us. Dd19 has sort of moved back, though not officially. Anyhow, dinner was a quick turn around (just heating up frozen leftover lentils with ham which we ate over rice + sides) b/c dd16 needed to leave for the concerto concert by 6:40 pm. I'm actually not sure dd16 ended up joining us. . . . Ds and I left at 7:05 for the same concert. I dropped off ds at his house after the concert and was home for good around 10:15 pm. I was so tired - I had been in front of groups of people leading/teaching for over 5 hours yesterday. That's a lot for an introvert.

The high school concerto concert was amazing! I wish some of you could attend. Music is highly valued in this community, probably influenced by the strong music school that is part of the big Univ. here. There were even a couple guest harpists and a guest conductor from the big U here. One of the students played a Rachmaninoff piano concerto w/ full orchestra accompaniment. He is also an amazing clarinet player and is a finalist in some hs national competition with the air force band. Jupiter by Holst was last, and it was very well done. Dd16 had an exposed English horn part in that piece, but she said she messed it up, which was ironic since it was an easy passage and she never messed it up during rehearsals. I couldn't really hear it so I didn't know that.

Today: Well, so far, I've had a QT, had bfast, done s2s and self-care, taken care of emails - sent one re: moms group business, gone to WW where I was up but not as much as I'd feared - 0.7 lb, gassed the car, done hen chores, refilled the sugar bowl, and restocked our kitchen paper towels. Dh is now off on a run after working since about 5:30 a.m (he's still jetlagging).

Next for me:
- make quiz for BRW class this afternoon
- look over A's materials
- lunch
- 12:30, change clothes and gather things

I'll leave around 12:45. Dd19 has asked for a ride to the art school, so I'll drop her off before heading to main campus for work. After class, I'll drive to the local library to tutor A. I should be home around 6:10 pm.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Office deep clean is finished. I can actually check off all those zone chores for this month. Something I haven't done for years.

The shipper called to say he'll drop off the skid this afternoon, where did we live. Then a pause because he can't take the truck on the easy roads to get to us. Then another pause because I asked how big the shipment was and would it fit on the elevator. "We don't deliver to apartments, I'll leave it outside."

I understand that these are deck tiles. But my deck is on the 22nd floor and nothing in the Costco communication said they wouldn't deliver to my apartment. Because of the confusion, he said we'd make it late morning. No sign of him yet.

I've set up a place to drop the skid in the living room and we'll have to hope his hydraulic cart is small enough to get this upstairs. Otherwise, dh and I will be making numerous trips from outside to the apartment with our dolly. I ordered 12 bundles and each weighs 36 lbs so I figure 4 trips because I don't think the dolly can handle much over 100 lbs.

To complicate things, my meeting is at 1 and the guy isn't here yet. I'm s2s but have jeans and a t-shirt over panty hose. Dress clothes are on the bed waiting for me to change.

[Harmony]

Hello everyone!

Lynlee, too bad about the traffic (got the same mess here) and the $ but good news on your teeth. Would you elaborate about the flossing?

Kathryn, I can just picture you guys getting those boxes upstairs. They really should have told you.

Have y'all noticed just how busy we all stay? Life is just insane, isn't it?

I don't know where my energy has come from these past couple weeks. Maybe I'm just mentally and physically doing better these days. It sure feels like it. I've done more these past couple weeks than I've done in a couple months. Not complaining, just observing and feeling grateful.

Slept in an hour. That last hour really helps me. I seem to get in a deep sleep really late and if I don't get that sleep I can get really tired out. Today's tada's so far:
big stack of desk chores. went to bank and county office.
cleaned out purse and processed all those receipts
dust mopped whole floor
mopped everything. Yikes, it was bad.
dishes put away.
handled multi phone calls
one pay check figured, written, handed out
one subcontractor check written, handed out

still to do: take damp rag around and dust. Blow off the front porch and the inside of garage. collapse into a chair. I know I'll have a trip out later to move trucks around.

Have a nice day, don't y'all work too hard.

DONE: all the major furniture dusted. throw rugs back down. cooler dumped and washed. front porch and garage blew off (I'm not good at that yet and I get a tornado going, but I'm getting better!)

[Twins' Mom]

I had a really good nap, I was tired.

I am going to pack up my stuff to go to the library next...trying to figure out whether to take laptop or just iPad. Found one of my smaller cross body purses so I can keep purse on me. Our downtown library has a lot of transient and homeless traffic - which is permitted - but generally I like to take only what I can keep up with.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Four trips and the boxes were upstairs. The palette was 4' x 4' so wouldn't fit into the lobby but thankfully both vestibule doors open so he put the palette down in there (it is a large space) and helped us unload them off the palette and took it away for us. Then dh took them upstairs 3 at a time on the dolly. They are a neat stack in my living room now.

I had my meeting which lasted way too long. Then went grocery shopping which also lasted too long because I did a survey for a free package of cookies plus a shopping bag.

My knee is going out badly so I'm really slow moving until I can get it back into place. I'll do a round of physio before dinner.

[CathyS]

Cat box was dealt with.

Most of the dishes are done. (No dish washer except me. Wayne's dish washing skills are lacking.)

All of the dirty laundry is ready to go to the car. I can do it tomorrow morning while Wayne is at work.

I got a lot of stuff accomplished in the spare room. Put up another table to give me more room to do dreaded paperwork.

Dinner is now started.

[DeeClutter]

Came home from work and took a little nap. Felt better after that. Ate lunch then got dh's Stent Cards ready to mail. Drove to the post office so I could mail them in a priority envelope. That was finished up and I came home and napped again. Had to catch up from last night somehow. Now the trick is to sleep tonight.

I see dsonil is home from work -he usually announces his presence but didn't today.

All the mail today was for us. One was a letter from our pastor and I was a little leary about what it could be. It actually was a very nice thank you note for our 'dedicated' work at the church. Nice, but not necessary. Also got our new A mazon F ire S tick. Think I'll just let dd set it up. I'm just too lazy to start thinking about how to figure it out. Sure it's simple. Hers came yesterday.

I'm trying to find the recipe for cabbage soup and searches all take me to sites that my computer security doesn't want me to download. I used to make it and it seemed tastier than the one I just made. It's okay but not as good or tasteful as I'd like. Don't know what I did differently.

[blessedw2]

Good Late afternoon (4:18 pm here)... where does the time go. Today was errand day... I took d uncle to chemo dr. ... ran a bunch of errands!

hello to all

[Harriet]

Congratulations to Twins' Mom's daughter on her recognition.

Good job on hunting for little items and finding them, Dee.

CathyS, you got a lot done.

Teeth/gums - ubiquinol, which is the more absorbable form of CoQ-10, is great for gums. Lynlee, great job on your progress.

Kathryn, I wish I could tell you my older dd35 and ds30 enjoy spending time with each others' spouses, but I don't really see them seek each other out. They truly enjoy talking about the kids, but then the conversations lag. Both of those couple's favorite in-laws seem to be dstepson and dstepdil! Sigh! Maybe it's the NOT growing up together that makes in-law relationships easier? In a nutshell, I think dd and ds both have homey, down-to-earth, bluejean outlooks on life, but each married a bit of an opposite. Ddil prizes fashion and well-appointed surroundings, and dsonil prizes debate, reading, varied knowledge. Somehow, marriage to these siblings meant matches made in heaven, but as for pals, they don't seem to
"click" with the same-sex in-law.

Harmony, yes, "insane". If you get a theory on the energy, please let us know.

Joined blessed on doctor trip. I went again with HRH to a dr's appt (nothing but a check-in) and then we grocery shopped together, which is rare. Enjoyed most of that very much, although he gets preoccupied and doesn't listen, or walks off mumbling an answer I couldn't possibly hear. Had mail we put in the town slot along the way, which gets it off my mind faster.

My lunch was an actual no-kidding firm, red ripe tomato, made into a sandwich with Duke's mayonnaise. I tell you what. Tasted like July. In April. High recommendation for the paper-bowl style packaging that lets ripe tomatoes travel so well you can find them in groceries. This happened to be a Tasti-Lee variety tomato, which Burpee carries in seed or plant, but has mixed reviews with many saying it was bred for the grocery trade and isn't as good as others. These, at least, are nearly home-garden quality. I know that eating produce in its own season is ideal, so no Carolinian should, by rights, even have these available at all now, but tomatoes are such a joy and so good for you, good for the attitude.

Dd's prom is getting more and more complicated for her, thanks to a friend who wants to have a group going together. Of course, we agree partly - we have said that group dates are best after dark. But this friend has lined up photography at a local park, reservations at a really nice restaurant, etc. Getting more formal and nervous-making as they go along. Especially since it's supposed to thunderstorm at the time of the pictures. Hmmm... ... Life lessons may be learned. (smile)

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Harriet: last night we asked ds how the gf was as a traveler. This is important to ds. She was barely adequate so I suspect the relationship won't last long. Part of is that she is recovering from pneumonia so didn't have a lot of stamina. But her interests didn't match ds's. At least she came to NYC with a list of things she wanted to do, which is better than being completely oblivious, and she traveled light, which is important to ds, but he sounded disappointed. The reason he isn't applying for any full-time positions is that he likes being able to take 6 weeks a year to travel and chooses to live on less income in order to take time off without pay to go away. So traveling is his top priority in life.

The ex-gf was obviously a great traveler (after all, they met on the road.) And Not-The-Girlfriend is a good traveler (but a follower, she never has anything to say about what she wants to do.) His appreciation of NTGF's ability as a traveling companion is what made me ask him how the trip went.

Oh well, he's young. And we learn from what isn't right, often more than from what's right.

I was writing a review of the deck tiles (we opened a box and they look very nice) and noted each box was 60lbs so dh moved a lot of weight upstairs today!

Dinner is done and I'll do the cleanup after the period is over. For the first time in this hockey series, a team is leading by 2 goals. That would be my team! Of course, they still have to win this game and it is early in the game. Then they have to win 2 more. And after that, they just proceed to the next level of the playoffs. Hockey is ridiculous because almost 1/2 the teams make the playoffs so the playoffs last forever.