Third Sunday of July 2023

[Twins' Mom]

We also have an abundance of food. Yesterday at Costco dh bought the rotisserie chicken wraps that I like. At the grocery near us (we needed things since he invited dinner guests) the smoker was there with ribs and brisket so he also bought that. We have chicken meatballs with pasta in the refrigerator and part of a grilled pork chop that probably need to go out by now. He got way too much fruit for our dessert - we have the rest of a fruit salad to use, and more fruit that he bought and didn't use. He grilled three big pieces of steak and they get cut crosswise into slices. one of the three didn't get used at all, and we have maybe 1/2 of one sliced steak to eat. I don't know how to stop him! And I reminded him that he's out Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights so we won't be eating our supper together. (I hear my mother words that "wasting food is a sin" - she grew up in very reduced circumstances so never wasted - at least until she was older and couldn't remember what she had.)

Anyway, right now I'm having some cantaloupe and yogurt.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Twins: The marinated steak we cook and cut that way freezes beautifully and so we can make a second meal of it later. I never knew it did but tried it once when our company had to cancel and the steak was already defrosted (we freeze in a bag with the marinade and defrost in the fridge so it gets to marinate while defrosting but then has to be cooked immediately, not refrozen before cooking.)

I can't put another thing in my tummy and made poor choices at dinner. I should have had my burger, a salad and dfdil's garlic toast (she really wanted a salad so I told her I'd eat her toast since she couldn't substitute.) But my side was potato skins which are a meal by themselves. Dh gave half his to dsil, (who gave me half his vegetables.) We had a good day together, though, and that's what counts. I'm not sure I can face either another onion ring or french fry this week (which is why I ordered the skins). Which makes the fish and chips tomorrow night iffy at best. (They do great rings there as well and I know dh will be ordering them.)

I'll stop at a grocery store before White Point and pick up salad things. And milk. And dh wants lemonade.

I'm very tired right now so will head to bed soon. I played games with dfgd4.5 this afternoon and then spent a little time walking around the lobby of the restaurant with dfgd2.5 while we waited for our meals.

After we went our ways, dh and I came back to the rental apartment and walked around the nature boardwalk, then up to the corner store so dh could get a lottery ticket.

I did very well and didn't buy the house next to this place, or even go to the open house today. We love this neighbourhood of Halifax and it is close to dfs but of course they won't be here forever, they are anxious to move closer to Ottawa and are thinking of New Brunswick if he gets a medical discharge from the Navy (he has surgery on his knee in 6 weeks and then his recovery will tell if he gets a discharge or not.) That can move them 1 day's drive away from us.

So buying a house down here makes no sense. It is still tempting since I like this area so much and the price is definitely right and there's no yard to upkeep. It appears to be built in someone else's yard and has no land, just a right of way to use the next door (this building's) driveway and one parking spot in front of the house and small fenced 20' x 20' area in the back. It is built up high so the main floor actually looks over the top of this high-ranch bungalow. With a great deck out front (amazing views) and out back (leading down to the little fenced yard.)

But it is right across the street from the ocean which makes it iffy as far as storm damage goes. And there is a ton of traffic here so while I hear the waves, I hear the cars more often, probably an 8:1 ratio of car noise to wave sounds.

This is the second time we've thought of buying a place down here so we are obviously tempted but it makes no sense. Still, the house cost 1/3 or less than a house in my neighbourhood at home and that wouldn't come with a view or the ocean sounds. (The carrying cost of the mortgage is about 60% of my current rent so it isn't a financially stupid idea.)

[Harriet]

Talked at great length with ds this evening re : Dee and Mr. DeeClutter. He has been away at the Outer Banks for more than a week and hadn't heard from me about it until now. The girls have both heard earfuls, of course.

Has Mystery been in to see this news? I don't remember seeing her for a while.

We had taken delivery of 4 packages for ds' family while they were away, so they all 4 came to get those and see us. DdC transitions from baseball last year to softball upcoming and her new bat arrived. HRH thought it was funny that the box holding a bat was so lightweight (some kind of composition of mostly aluminum).

The morning service was so good - the sermon such a keeper, including housework examples. Thoroughly enjoyed.

The afternoon I spent doing
a little bit of scrubbing and then stop,
little bit of scrubbing and then stop,
repeat,
repeat,
on bathroom surfaces mostly. 65? year old house and it just takes a lot to keep it up. I'm not going to overtax myself, though (I hope).

I feel like that was really enough exercise, but I did a short routine this evening anyway.

Tried a new recipe today and we can forget that one! I toughed out one serving for myself but didn't kid myself that the rest of the family would want it. LOL! You gotta know when to fold 'em.

Dd24 reports that she went to a play with her future dsisil in the middle of the day and they waited over an hour and the play had to be cancelled because of actor injury. There will be a refund, but that's a shame.

[lucylee]

Waving hello/good night to everyone!
Dgs went home early this afternoon but ate supper with us, along with Dgd and ds.
Dgd is spending the night, but she’s having a tough night. Says she wants to stay with us… but she misses her mommy. I think she has finally settled down to go to sleep.
After being away from home 3 nights, Dgd spent Friday night at home, but last night she went next door to the other grandparents. Now she’s having mixed emotions about being away again.

Dh is asleep. He feels miserable. Six days in this powder that is supposed to lower his potassium has caused him to gain six pounds! He has an upset stomach, constipation, gas, nausea, etc. He quit taking the medicine today, but won’t get potassium re-checked until Friday.

I think Dgd has fallen asleep too. Maybe they’ll both feel better tomorrow.

I finished all the vacuuming for the main areas of the house and I’ve done one load of laundry tonight. I’ll need to fold it later.
Also need to wash dishes.
Plan for tomorrow—
— Finish laundry
—.S/S baths
— Dust
— Pack for Tues/Wed in Atlanta.

I’m still a little stiff and sore from that tumble over the vacuum cleaner, but felt much better than I expected this morning! Hand hurts the worst, but I am still aware of every spot that hit the floor or the bench.

[Harmony]

Kathryn, if you ever did move to that area you love so much, how far would you be away from your own grandkids? Would that be a consideration too? I guess if I ever moved out of this area it would have to be closer to at least one of my kids. I love this area and where one of the kids lives is way too busy an area for me to feel comfortable living in. The other one's area is getting that way, but I'm thinking I could manage it ok. This place is too big for us but yikes it's hard to move from everybody we know.

LadyM, were you advertising your trailer and stuff you let go of today? I'm struggling to figure out how to get rid of all this stuff here. Yesterday I told DH I might call his sister who also had a lot of stuff to get rid of when her DH died. She advertised so I'm thinking maybe she would help me get started.

It was 102° late this afternoon. At 4:00 I went out to fill the garbage bin and roll it to the road and it felt like I walked into a wall when I went outside. We have to remember that our humidity is crazy high and that makes it feel worse.

I did get my friend and took her to church with me. We are getting more comfortable doing this I guess. I don't have any trouble loading / unloading her rollator in the car even though it is heavier than DH's and she has a fabric basket which makes folding it up a little harder and if I don't do it right I get my fingers pinched. She takes it because she can lose her balance.

Speaking of balance, I'm wondering how Lucylee is feeling today after her fall yesterday. I hope you are doing ok and no lasting effects of that. Now I see you have posted and are doing ok with an extra sore hand and I hope all your sore spots feel better quickly and thank goodness nothing broken.

I stopped at other store today on the way home to get milk and looked around for other stuff we needed but I have to be very careful in there as their prices are very high. I only picked up a couple things because of that and the milk is more but I'm willing to pay it because the cheaper store milk doesn't last and turns sour way sooner than the expiration date. I won't buy theirs any more.

I did get a baked chicken so I didn't have to cook much today. But I am still very worn out from our work yesterday and I slept after church/shopping, got up at 4 to gather the rubbish for tomorrow, put the chicken in to warm, went back to sleep on the couch and never got up till 9:30. If I'd just gone to bed this afternoon I'd have slept hard and then I'd have been up all night. So I had to take DH's Rx in to him, he'd gone to bed without because I wasn't awake to remind him and then I forced myself to do dishes and tidy up a bit, run the little sweeper over crumbs and make coffee for tomorrow and check the locks. I hope I can sleep tonight and wake more rested.

Harriet, I think Mystery was here one day a day or 2 ago. She didn't mention anything about Dee so maybe she doesn't know.

Ok, that's it for today. I guess I'll take my sleepy body to bed now.