First things first Friday

[Harmony]

Quick post and run.

Elizabeth, what a gracious thing to do with DD (gift card).

I always do the most important things first. Bills that need paid. Things that keep the house running: laundry to the washer, dishes cleaned up - me, medicated and caffeinated!

All the above done. Folded up mountain of clean towels and sheets. Last sheets washed and hung up. Load of whites spinning now. THEN I'm caught up!

Ran out to get couple pairs of work shoes for DH who said his last pair was shredding apart. Took 1 pair down to job in case the shredding shoes were making it dangerous for him to walk - they were not, it was a big split across the top. He really wears out his shoes! You should have seen the checkout clerk look at his old one I took along to match...

Hoping to catch the guys when they come over to get equipment soon. Must have a 2 minute safety meeting and get them to sign sheet. I'm supposed to do that every 3 months.

I guess I should do a little conga around here, maybe run the vacuum some places and the mop. That is a never-ending chore. Have a nice day, everybody!

[Harriet]

Elizabeth, thanks, I forwarded your info to dd.

Dee, your body has the job of healing right now, so that has to be the priority for a while. I know it is frustrating to you since you would normally be getting a lot done. It won't be long.

I could hardly think of priorities this morning because putting-out-fires got in the way and became priorities. Two large limbs fell across our driveway during a storm in the early morning hours. I was out picking up smaller debris while HRH used the tractor to push the larger. A cousin had said he could come help after lunch but we got it done. These were from two different trees, so the storm must have been a doozy.

When the mailman came, he drove up to me on one side of the first limb and chatted with me while handing the mail over the obstruction. That was funny. He is such a good neighbor and enjoys being a part of the community.

I'm so glad we had clear weather for a while to get that done, because even beyond HRH's need to have a clear path, my afternoon priority must be getting out into the world and attending dd's exhibit. I understand the plan was to work until 11:00 last night to get the final presentation just right for visitors. I hope she and I will be able to start home between the Friday lunch traffic and afternoon commuter traffic. I shampooed last evening, kept my hair in a scrunchie so far, and will hope to look reasonable when I take it down for the event. This oppressive humidity and my hair type don't make for attractive looks during the summer.

I did have the healthy breakfast I planned. Maybe lunch will be the omelet I had yesterday with fresh mushrooms. I, too, need to think about the day's laundry, which was postponed along with other things.

[lucylee]

Good morning/afternoon!

(((Twins))) and (((Rose))) -- hope your headaches go away completely. (((Rose))) -- I cannot imagine how y'all deal with those temperatures. Although ours have been registering above 100 on the heat index lately... It's just HOT everywhere, I think.

I've made two sets of hotel reservations this morning and I've eaten breakfast. That's about it. I'm just so relieved to have a day "off" after having something "scheduled" every day since Sunday. I was so exhausted last night, after having dgs for about 10 hours. He is sooo much fun, and so good, but still -- sooo tiring to spend that much time with a toddler.
And he has absolutely no interest in the potty chair. He'll be three on the 26th... ddil has him in pull-ups now, but he has no interest in indicating he needs to use the potty, and will fiercely declare NOOO, when asked if he wants to "try." * sigh * I know... this too will pass...

(((Dee)))

That was a good thing to do, Elizabeth, helping dd w/the Father's Day gift. You definitely deserve kudos for taking the high road in all this.

Waving to ALL!!!

[Nancy]

Having my cranberry juice drink now, back from the store. Laundry is in the dryer now. Took a half mi. Walk. Gathered eggs. Spiffed bed. Watered some in the back yard it is windy out today.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

After s2s and getting my physio exercises done, I had a great 9 mile bike ride with dh. So the focus has been on fitness not writing. Although I did listen to two discussions on the readings while I worked out. I have lots of notes but no idea gelling yet.

The bike ride was exciting for me because I didn't have to walk up any hill (although there were only 2 hills that could conceivably been thought of as challenging.)

More importantly, it doesn't hurt to kick my kickstand into place (it gets off centre when I go over bumps and my pedal hits it), nor does it hurt to bring the pedal into the right position to push off when stopped at a light.

My balance seems better (I could keep the bike upright while stopped at a light by backpedalling) and I had no trouble going 'off-road' on the section of the bike path that's been replaced with loose gravel (but am thankful I still have the thick, knobby, tires.)

Those are all tiny improvements but noticeable to me, especially the routine moves that no longer hurt. That makes biking more pleasant for me.

[Norma]

Well it has been awhile, but I check on everyone everyday. Wishing Dee to get 100% soon. So sorry that happened to you.

Rosie, we really miss you guys. I think I could even put up with the heat if we could sit and have a nice visit and maybe go to Blue Adobe. And, if I could get Willy boy or Sadie the Wonder Dog to snuggle up to me I would be a happy camper. (Hope what you are looking for at Macy's and the shoe store is obtainable.)

Up at 6 a.m. as I had an appointment with my hygienist at 8:00. (Old people take longer to get going in the a.m.) 6:00 is unheard of for me. The best part of it was that my old hygienist did the job today as my new one just had her baby. Marti is in to help out for the summer until Angie gets back. I like her too, but it was sure nice to see Marti.

I have done what I told myself I wouldn't do ....... become addicted to Pinterest! I love that site. That is why you haven't seen me for a long time. Mr. Guy said he is going to hire a Merry Maid to clean my house. The stipulation, of course, is that he gets to interview and doing the hiring! Fat Chance!

Hope you all have a nice weekend.

[helia]

Thinking of priorities would have been good for me to do first thing this morning. I've been having THE laziest day ever. I think a lot of that is because (1) I can. And, in contrast, (2) I had such a busy going-straight-from-one-thing-to-another kind of day yesterday, from the time I left the house at 8:45 a.m. until 10:30 pm when I finished purchasing tix for ds to come home July 4th weekend. (3) I have not slept well the last 2 nights. I seem to wake up for an hour or two between 3 and 5:30 a.m. I'm not sure why and I'm not sure what to do about it. As a result, however, I am tired. My body doesn't do naps well.

Elizabeth, I agree - that was a very gracious thing to do with DD. A concert at a zoo - what is that like? Sounds intriguing.
I don't know how those of you with temps so very high manage. Here, if we get up to 85, it's almost a crisis. LOL! I do remember those hot (and humid) days when we lived in Austin, TX, but the highest I think I experienced was 113. Summers in Austin were not fun.
((HUGS)) to those with headaches, Twins and RR. I hope they're not migraines.
Good for you for getting some exercise in, Kathryn!
I'm sorry I can't personally greet each one of you. I'm glad you're here, though!

Today, I did get myself ready to go to my WW meeting. I didn't end up staying for the meeting, though; I talked with the clerks for a while about switching my free 2 week etools trial to a 3 month pass that is on sale. And dh called in the middle of all that -- of course. I called him back and since he picked up, I decided to chat with him instead of going to the meeting. I hadn't spoken with him since Tuesday. He and dd19 are doing well; the conference was busy but it is over and paper presentations and panels went well, as far as I could tell. They are now in Hiroshima getting ready to do some sightseeing tomorrow morning, which will start when it is evening for us. . .

I was down 0.8 lbs at WW, so that was positive, though not as positive as I was hoping. All that exercising and all the times I ignored feeling hungry resulted in less than a lb.?? *sigh* I did have a bad (or good) night Wed. though.

I came home and had lunch and then continued having lunch for about 2 hours. I'm recording it all. I'm not sure what hit me, though being tired doesn't help. Dd17 was wanting to find some old photos of her and a good friend, so she looked through most of the photos on my laptop, and I looked with her through many of them too. We found a really hilarious video from winter 2006. The kids were ice skating on the rink dh used to put up in our yard. Probably no one else would find it funny, but each kid was acting very much in line with his/her personality. Dd17 and I ended up laughing until we were crying, mostly due to dd19's (she was dd10 at the time) antics. She was the wildest skater of the 3, continually going too fast and wiping out while keeping up a constant stream of cheerful chatter and trying to rope dd17 into her schemes. . .

I have also done hen chores and managed to send a couple emails re: moms group business.

I must say, though I do miss dh and dd19 and ds, it has been really nice to have some one-on-one time with dd17. She is an introvert, though not a particularly shy one, and will generally let the family extroverts (dh, dd19 and sometimes ds) do most of the talking. But she is very funny and has good thoughts, and we sat at the table after we'd eaten last night and just talked and talked. With my going back to work, the general busyness of our lives, her independent nature (emotionally and in other ways too), and her being the youngest child (she is being raised differently than ds and dd19, no doubt; we're more laid back for starters), I sometimes worry that she is falling through the cracks a bit. So, this time has been good!

OK I'm going to try to get something done today. Anything would be good at this point. I think I'll aim for the a.m. routine and perhaps finally get the oil in my car changed.

[Elizabeth]

An unexpected break. I was frantically getting a task done, so I could have it appear checked off at our every other week progress meeting. That way I would have 16 done, none in progress, and one still ToDo. I was getting up (after checking it off!) to go, when one of my coworkers came by and asked if I minded if we skipped the meeting. The usual organizer is out today and she and another coworker were in the middle of particularly knotty problems. So ... that task is done and I will start thinking about the other one. (The task is a planning task, so it is more thinking than coding, reporting, or writing. I will write up what I decide though, assuming I complete it today.)

An animal org meeting with the mayor may be cancelled as well. Kind of unfortunate, because I had cleared my calendar for it. It is a night I normally have with DD13. It is also the night before she leaves for a week and a half. I thought the x would not mind, since he would probably want her on hand for tasks like packing. I was right about that. However, that will mean nearly two weeks with no DD, to attend a meeting that may not take place. If it is cancelled, I will tell the x and DD, but let him have that night he has either made plans or really needs her. If I don't tell them, Murphy's Law says that I will be out someplace goofing off and having fun, run into them, and DD will think I ditched her on purpose!

[Nancy]

I got a nap in this afternoon. ToddlerN left we made blue berry muffins & she took all but one for hubby with her. H. Is ho e early. Did the other park of my walk. my back is quite a bit better now.

H brought home take out chineese I had half of mine learned from last time.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Had a walk around the neighbourhood across Island Park Drive (a ceremonial street) from our neighbourhood. The street we went down is one block in from Island Park with its mansions (at least they were mansions when I was a child, now they are just very good sized, executive homes, diplomatic residences and embassies.) The yards of the big houses go all the way through to this back street so people had garages facing onto that street. They also have driveways off Island Park but there are times of the day it is impossible to use due to traffic backing up 2 miles or more as people want to get over the bridge to Quebec. Even this evening after 7:30, the traffic was stopped at our corner so crossing on foot was easy, we just wove between the cars.

The little street was interesting because it has mansions on one side and very modest (1200 sq feet or less) houses on the other. The same is true on our side of Island Park. We often take the first street in on our side instead of Island Park due to traffic. The houses are comparable to what I grew up with, about 1400 - 1800 square feet. The regular three bedroom apartments in this building are 1200 square feet, plus there are 12 2000sf apartments, so no wonder so many of the people sold their homes and moved in here when the building opened.

I'm still struggling with the service. I'm out at an Italian Festival with dd and dsil some time after 3:30 tomorrow and have a Summer Solstice party to attend tomorrow night. So I really need to get my thoughts organized and on paper. The service is almost done, just two prayers left to write, then the sermon to tackle.