Rich Tea Biscuits Thursday

[helia]

Glad Germane is OK - and cute as ever, Doggedly! How scary!!
IMHO, your cold is a reason and not an excuse, trissie. I hope you don't have to have a late night wrap-a-thon. Our school runs through Dec. 23rd this year -- which is crazy because many of the students (not all - some are worried about getting back in) are going home to their foreign countries before then. My last class is the 22nd, so I won't come in on the 23rd. I also work part-time so not as much payroll work as you.
Where are you going over Christmas, Lauralind? Are you visiting DS + family? Glad things are coming together. What are you crocheting?
WTG finishing Cmas gift ordering, Smile! Yay for comfy clothes - all day!
L Ann, are you attending the dinner Christmas party as well?
Bama, are you hosting a party today? I hope it goes well!
Kitty, I hope you had a good morning at church. I know McVities brand mainly for their digestives, which we used to always have on hand before dd30 found out she had celiac disease.

I'm currently at the hotel in Grand Rapids, MI. AC and I have had breakfast - which was just coffee and fruit for me. I had a cookie last night and we're going to meet CM for brunch in 45 minutes and I don't usually eat breakfast. And the Dr. will weigh me at my check up appointment tomorrow morning.

Yesterday, travel here after payroll was pretty easy. The roads were clear and it had pretty much stopped snowing. We got here around 6, stopped by CM's house to pick her up, and then went to a nice tapas place downtown. Afterward, AC and I checked into our hotel.

Today, we'll pack up and leave in about 20 minutes, meet CM for brunch, and then visit the local kindlmarkt. After that - I'm not sure. AC and I might go to another local site or we might just drive home. Dinner for dh and I will just be cumin pasta from the freezer and roasted butternut squash. I'll try to finish exam prep tonight; I got one exam done and sent out this morning.

Next:
- back exercises
- pack
- some devotional time? Short QT?

Later:
- 10:40 check out of hotel
- 11 - ? brunch with AC and CM
- visit local christkindl market
- another site?
- drive home; drop off AC at her house
- unload car; unpack
- put away clean blankets
- make sure kitchen is OK
- payroll: AIR Exam changes
- payroll: IR Exam
- payroll: start prep for AAS D9
- dinner with dh: cumin pasta, roasted squash
- after dinner clean up
- duolingo
- update health apps
- Mem. thank yous?? -- I don't have that many to do and it's a bit ridiculous that I'm not done. The memorial service was 2.5 months ago.

TaDas:
- payroll: AR Exam sent out for review
- payroll: AIR and IR Exams copied over and scanned --> need to make some changes to the AIR Exam
- s2s and self care
- breakfast with AC

WEEKLY ACTIVITIES
Thu 11 - Brunch with AC and CM/ other adventures in GR?/ Drive home/dinner: cumin pasta, roasted squash
Fri 8:20 Dr. appt. check up/ 1:30 - 3:30 payroll: teach AAS D9/ Dinner date with dh? - OR eat at home?
Sat 5 - ? CG1 (will we host?)
Sun 10 - 11:45ish Church/ say good bye to dh/ dinner: standard Sunday fare

Mon 8-10 pest control here/ 1:30 - 3:30 payroll: teach AAS D10
Tue 9:30 - 10:30 payroll tour of possible new location/ KS2J get together 10 - 12ish?/ EMG test 3-4:30
Wed 1:30 - 3:30 payroll: teach AAS D11
Thu 2-3 work out with AS/ RZ arrives - guest room ready/ dh returns
Fri 8:20 Dr. appt./ 1:30 - 3:30 payroll: teach AAS D12
Sat
Sun 10 - 12ish? church/ 6 - ? host Sunday dinner/ 8:15 - 9:30 family zoom call

December Brain Dumps
This Week - House
- towel laundry
- guest bedding laundry

This Week - Deskwork
- make appointment with optometrist
- Memorial thank yous
- reach out to JK?
- reach out to MM?

This Week - Errands
- get Mom's bags of stuff to the charity

General Brain Dump
- progress decluttering clothes - wip
- new phone eventually

Mom
- go through bag of Mom's knick knacks

[Doggedly]

Good morning, all! Kittykatt, thank you for starting us off. I was picturing the rich tea biscuits as being like social tea cookies or Marie biscuits until you got to the fingers and cream sandwiches, LOL.
Thank you for your compliment to Germane. The groomer did an incredible job, considering that she has to work with a muzzle on. Germane went in with a big mat under one eye from where her eye discharge was matting the fur. She had been successfully resisting my efforts to remove it or diminish it. Yesterday, the groomer managed to shave it off, which of course meant working with the muzzle off and getting her fingers snapped at. And I can attest from Germane's mistakes when accepting treats, that her fangs are sharp! No cuts on the groomer's hand though, so Germane was just giving warning snaps and not serious about biting. I'm so relieved to have that thing off of her face, as it was beyond my ability to cope.

Thanks, Bama. Yes, in all the years that I have had dogs, this is the first time that I have done that. And you can bet that I will be double and triple checking the doors for a long time to come.
I am curious about the lettuce and sour cream in your list. Is that a salad with dressing? Or do you put the sour cream straight on the lettuce? or is it part of something else? It's fun to learn about other people's food habits.

Thank you, L.Ann. Pesto chicken salad wraps sound delicious!

Thank you, Smile*Lee. Right now, Germane is a little bundle of satisfaction as she has eaten breakfast and successfully begged for her share of the vegetables from my breakfast and has taken herself off to sleep in the bathroom.
Woo hoo for a day in, in comfy clothes. I'll hang out with you. I am enjoying a day in with no plans. Everything in the apartment is saying "me! me! me!" and I aim to satisfy at least some of them.

Lauralind, the kennel owner is Casper's trainer... can you pay her to do some leash training with him? Explain how he pulls and that puts your back at risk. She might be able to recommend a different harness or something that he responds to better after working with him again. It seems a golden opportunity.
The HH gift card sounds like a particularly thoughtful gift just now as they plan their renovations.

True, trissie, I would have liked to skip that particular first, LOL. But on the bright side, it forced me to fill up the gas tank, so now I know that I don't have to think about that before Christmas.
Can you and your DH pick a time where he takes all of the children out for a mandatory outing to give you time to wrap and hide?

Thursday
Misc tidying
Put away dry dishes
Filled dw to run later
Extracted new coffee container from back of walk-in closet
Changed out kitchen garbage
CUOP
Cut up pills for Germane
Gave Germane her Benedryl

[Doggedly]

Thank you, helia. It sounds like you are having a nice trip. How was the drive? I remember that it was sounding iffy before you left.

[L.Ann]

DD32’s party today is a center event so I get to miss that one. The one on Sunday is for adults with disabilities. Caretakers are invited. DD32 likes to go without me to these things which works for me but the one on Sunday is a barn event. The barn is far from other things and only 2 hours so there is no sense going somewhere else so I will go.

1-call about DM’s account @12:30(hoping mail comes in with paper I need)
2-pick two cleaning jobs
3-clean up spare room

Menus
Wednesday-left overs/DD32 out
Thursday-pesto chicken salad wraps(DD32 out at party)
Friday-out on way home
Saturday-Little Bit spending the night, pizza?..
Sunday-eat out at party

Events
Wednesday-Little Bit 7:40-5, Little Bit to school 9:15-3,lunch with friends@12
Thursday-Little Bit 7:40-5, Little Bit to school 9:15-3, DD32 dinner Christmas Party 3-6
Friday-Little Bit 7:40-9:15, Hopkins
Saturday-Little Bit spending the night, Hospice open house with Clydesdales, tuba Christmas@1
Sunday-barn Christmas party with DD32’s group, brunch with Santa@10

Weekly House Blessing-mop kitchen, bathroom, dining room, dust, windex, vacuum, trash
Detail cleaning of dining room-scrub floor
Extra stuff-waiting for paper for lawyer


Accomplishments
-stretching and knee exercises
-breakfast for dog and me
-dress and pick up bedroom
-meds, shower, and temp for DD32
-walk inside
-pick up Little Bit
-diet site
-walk a bit more inside
-take Little Bit to school
-pick up socks at Kohls
-walk outside
-museum membership
-lunch
-talk to Dsis

[Bama]

And another good morning to you all. I’m up but haven’t been productive yet. I thought I’d cuops before I get to moving and being distracted.

LAnn, hope dd has fun at her party.

Dogged, glad the mat is gone, grooming pets is no fun. My sil left her car door open one time while we were there and one of her cats hopped in. She shut the door without knowing the cat was inside, along with her keys, and the cat stepped on the lock button. We had to wait for the locksmith to come help her. He got there, and knew her because he’s rescued her from this same scenario before.
Lettuce and sour cream goes back to my mom and aunt, I don’t know if they made it up or it’s a handed down thing. Chop up iceberg lettuce, they would add ingredients separately but it’s a lot easier for me to mix sour cream in a cup with a teaspoon or so of white vinegar, salt and pepper, mix well and toss in lettuce. That way you can taste to make sure the vinegar ratio is right before adding to lettuce. Simple and delicious. They also did it with very thinly sliced cucumbers, squeezed the water out of the cukes first.

Helia, hope you’re having fun and the weather behaves for your travels.

Laura, hope you’re feeling better. Good luck with that crochet project.

Trissie, virtual cookies somehow turn into the real deal here. I hope things calm down for you. Could you hire local teens to wrap gifts or allot home chores to family members? I know you will make it all happen, hope you’re not too stressed/sick for Christmas. Time sure is flying by! I can’t believe how quickly it will be here.

Smile, have fun planning and shopping online today.

Kittykatt, waving bc I can’t scroll further, hope your day is going well.

Hope I didn’t miss anyone. I’ll be back at some point to tackle my list.
Oh, forgot to say the party is the 21st, it was mom’s tradition so I’ve carried it on, it’s the only time I see my brothers, their kids/grands/great grands haven’t participated in years. I’ve modified it to include dh’s sister and some of his cousins we’ve gotten close with since it doesn’t make sense to do this twice for such a small group.

Does anyone know any games we could play? Everyone is older than me so nothing too strenuous lol. We do the Saran wrapped ball. We do the dirty Santa with gifts but I provide the gifts to make it simple. I got a pack of flashlights and some movie theater boxes of candy to wrap together so everyone gets the same general gift but the color of the flashlight or the type of candy varies slightly. It’s just so everyone gets a little something to go home with and I like giving something.

[Bama]

Ok, let’s tackle this list.

To Do Today
*Prep for party*
Menu - ham, turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, lima beans, creamed corn, rolls or cornbread, lettuce and sour cream, cherry cookies, crescent cookies, fudge, pie? birthday cake, orange slice cake, meat and cheese platter
Weigh
Emails, notifications
Water
Cook eat log breakfast
Snack - fruit
Wfd - takeout
Walk dogs
Brush Beau, baths
Pet chores - fed, water, scoop and refill litter
Dremel dog nails
Dust
Spot clean floors
Vacuum
Mop
Monthlies - wipe down doors
Dance, workout
Dining -
Storage racks - put together, put boxes in
Laundry -
Work on office
Kitchen -
Polish cabinets
Dw - unload, load
Living - decorate mantle, set up fp log, water plants
Make jello, boil eggs, banana pudding, pecan cobbler
Paper -
:30 on paper pile
Address Christmas cards
Craft - fake cupcakes with spray foam - waiting on toppings
Self - sharpie white spot on glasses
Outside -
Cut magnolia, eucalyptus stems
Clean up around grill
Soak and wash glass bottles

[trissie]

Bama, sorry, no good advice on games, we're the type to do board games with adults and then kid games. But I saw a fun way to play the Guess Who game, when you're not allowed to ask about physical appearance, so you're left with questions like "would this person be likely to call the manager?" and "would this person try to educate me about cryptcurrency at a party?"
L.Ann, I was asking about an adults-only party (nope, not doing one of those either, but boy do I miss company Christmas party! They are not a thing at my current job )
Dogged, Germane really does look like a happy doggie at the picture! No chance of DH taking the kids - since we have teens now, they would not be interested!
helia, it must be tough for your students... I ready today about how the changes even to ESTA process mean that a lot of people will not be visiting their families for holidays, or may change their reunion spot to Canada or Mexico. Needless to say, DH will NOT be travelling to the USA any time soon!
lauralind, most of the days I don't know how I do it either!

My day got hijacked, as I realized I would need one more present for the scout trip, and DS was not able to pick it up, as they were out at the place he was shopping for his presents. So I had to hop in the car and drive off to the place where I bought them on Tuesday. On my way home, I was daydreaming about once attending a holiday when I would be expected to just arrive and not make the whole thing happen. It was a very sweet daydream, but the reality is somewhat different!

TaDas
- morning routine
- midday routine
- afternoon routine
- clean kitchen
- fold laundry from dryer
- last minute shopping
- take outgrown shoes to a friend and borrow euros for twins' school trip tomorrow
- dinner (courtesy of freezer again - pulled pork burgers)
- sort and start a load of lights

ToDos
- evening routine
- 15 on laundry
- DBD's speech therapy

Braindump
- start dinner
- clean DBD's room
- have kids started on homework
- pay school bill & reply to school email
- 15 on laundry
- bake gingerbread cookies
- bake maroccan cookies
- beehive cookies
- wrap scout presents with DBD and DS
- finish BoD materials and send them off

[Peaches1000]

Good afternoon!

Next:
-Check email
-Update Toodledo
-Check bank accts/Amex
-Files/Med Info/Papers/Emails - 20 min

Extras:
-Tasks - (trash day)(unload dishes)(Toodledo tasks)
-Declutter/organize/clean - 10 min
-Files/Med Info/Papers/Emails - 10 min

Routine:
-Cat - brush/food/water/litter
-Vacuum something
-6pm Eat
-Close blinds
-Open & sort mail/file
-Prep for next day (clothes/calendar)

Done:
-Bedroom - pupa
-Dress/ready
-Foyer Bath - pupa/restock
-Fresh food for kitty
-Open blinds/get water
-10am Eat (ensure)
-Medicine/vitamins
-HH Nurse - visit
-Catch up DS

[Kittykatt]

Hello, everyone!

Helia, that sounds a lovely time with your friends!

L.Ann, DD32 has a very good social life!

Trissie, is there something the kids would enjoy doing that you could send them out to do on their own to give you some present wrapping time? Perhaps the elder three could go out on their own and DBD have some "Daddy-Daughter" time?

Bama, the salad dressing sounds very easy. Re party games, the only one I can think of off hand that might be suitable for older people byis "Consequences". In case you haven't come across in it, everyone is given a pencil and paper, and writes the name of a male character (real or fictional), folds the paper over to hide what they've written, and passes it to the person on their left. Everyone then writes a female name, folds the paper and passes it on . Next everyone writes a location , folds it and passes it on , followed by "he said" , "she said", what they did, and then the consequence was.. each time folding the paper and passing it on. Next, each person takes it in turn to unfold the paper read out the "story" that has been produced. It can be very funny!!

Dogged, fortunately it sounds as though Germane's groomer has very nimble fingers. I'm sure Germane feels much more comfortable without that mat. I understand about sharp fangs - a black and white gentleman near toe has sharp fangs too, and he has no scruples about using them.

Laura, they is an excellent ideal from Trissie to see if the lady who runs the kennels will do some training sessions for Casper.

Hi, Peaches!

Today has been mostly very good. Church was lovely, and we had cakes with coffee today. I had successful err ands, and managed to hoover the car. Jude was a little angel at her appointment, and has maintained her weight (at least she hasn't gained!). As it was neither cold nor raining this afternoon, I put the outdoor lights and the wreath up. The only downside to today was the the guy who was supposed to come to fix the spring on the dining table was a no show, and when I rang the office they kept hanging up. So... I have stopped the payment.

On the plus side, a DF has recommended her handyman, who she says is very reliable. So I've messaged him with photos and had a reply already. He thinks he may be able to do it next week. If he can't, the table still works (I'm the only one who can get the leaf up, but ... whatever).

Waitrose have delivered, the groceries are PA and I made chicken and vegetable soup for supper. Once again , Matilda is on my lap.

[Kittykatt]

Today's short list:
Thursday: DH WFH
10.30 am church followed by coffee and chat
2pm weight loss clinic - Jude
2.30 - 3.30 pm A Man is coming to hopefully.fix spring on dining table- did not turn up
Hoover car first thing? ( Weather permitting!)
Bring blue crates up from garage
6-7 pm Waitrose delivery
Any errands?
Order meds for Fred and Matilda, (remember Gabapentin capsule for Fred) flea control for Fred , food for anyone? Move to tomorrow. Add wet food for Matilda
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