Scottish Wildcat Sunday

[helia]

FFB, I have not watched a single second of the Olympics yet, so I had to google the Mongolian outfits. They are beautiful!! Nice that your boys are playing frog Olympics.
Kitkat, I didn't get back here either. 80 nuts in the car -- that was one busy squirrel! WTG teaching pup to close the freezer door! Does she like ice? One of our previous labs, Josie, LOVED eating ice.
Kitty, I've never heard of a Scottish wildcat. They're beautiful! I wouldn't want to encounter one in the wild, though. I've heard enough horror stories of wildcats in the US to keep my distance from any wildcat. Enjoy your chicken lunch with dh.
trissie, hoping you can shake this cold. Glad WFH is an option for you tomorrow.
Safe travels, L Ann! Enjoy the game and lunch with your sister.

Dh refilled our bird feeder yesterday, and it's almost empty. It's getting lots of business as I type this. A red-bellied woodpecker is scaring the other birds away, and the finches are bickering - always. LOL! Refilling it will be on my list for today - again.

I got home from CG1 around 9 pm, so earlier than usual for that group. Dh had made a fire, so I sat next to it and just vegged, did an online puzzle, duolingo, etc.

Today, it's another super-scheduled Sunday. 9:45 - 12:30ish, out to church. 3:15 - 6:15 out to CG2. Hosting Sunday dinner until 8 pm-ish. Thank goodness M helps heat up food, otherwise hosting Sunday dinner would be impossible as we start at 6 pm but we don't get home from CG2 until after 6. . . We always host because (1) we have the space and (2) our house is GF, which enables dd30 to join us. The Cs have the space - but are not GF. The girls are GF - but don't have the space. Between 12:30 and 3:15, I will eat lunch. I'd like to get to the gym, and make progress on NY cards - I'm so close to the end! And, of course, refill the bird feeder and bring in firewood.

It is currently 6*F (-14.4C). Dh has gone for a 9 mile run. No wind, so that is helpful.

Next:
- back exercises
- s2s and self care
- make the bed

Later:
- reclaim the kitchen
- 9:45 otd to church
~ 12:30 home; lunch
- NY cards progress
- refill bird feeder
- bring in firewood
- gym
- out 3:15 - 6:15 CG2
- host Sunday dinner for up to 8 people
- after dinner clean up
- duolingo
- update health apps

TaDas!
- up; skipped weighing
- coffee
- email deletions + weather website

WEEKLY ACTIVITIES
Sun 10 - 12ish Church / 3:30 - 6ish CG2: @ AA/ 6 - host Sunday dinner for up to 8 people

Mon 12-1 payroll: S2 Prep Mtg.
Tue 9 - WW/ 10 - 12ish KS2J get together/ 1-3 Prof Dev Mtgs./ 6:30 Host Dinner Crew - DD30 cooks
Wed
Thu 11 - 1 payroll: teach AR D1/ 12-1 payroll: CA mtg?/ 2-3 work out with AS/ 7:30 - concert
Fri 9:30 coffee with MM?/ date night with dh
Sat Valentine's Day
Sun say good bye to dh early/ 10 - church/ 6 - host Sunday dinner for up to 8 people?/ 8:15 family zoom call?

February Brain Dumps
This Week - House
- remake guest beds
- towel laundry
- can I spend some time decluttering in MBR?

This Week - Deskwork
- Writing progress - wip
- NY cards in the mail - wip

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
- deposit check into our shared account

[Lauralind]

Morning all. I hope church was refreshing for all who went before me. I still have 4 hours yet. Trissie I hope you can just rest and sleep some and easy but healthy food to fight the bug. I'm sure you will find something that you have to keep busy with anyway but feel better soon.

Not interested in meeting wildcats up close either. I've been closer than I like to foxes but they up here can be somewhat too people friendly. Right in town occasionally and some people shouldn't but do anyway feed them. I had one hiding behind the bank following Casper and I barking at us. Casper wanted to go get him but I hung on for everything and we just kept going quickly.. eeks . He was fine though.

For gma. We were given permission from the hospital to make mom's room more homey. Bring some furniture in for her. She can take it with her to the care home when she does move but it could be a while. she's classed as longterm care. Dr said when we saw him with dad she's doing very well there and asked dad why he would worry about her. She's doing really well with the care but he still worries the activities make her too exhausted and she sleeps too much and the list goes on.

As for dad we are seriously questioning how long he can live way out there alone too? Maybe some of his memory issues will come back after his blood sugar stabilizes? I don't know. He canceled the house cleaner cause it's just him there now and he can do everything she did himself? Except he never has energy. His heart is fine after surgery but the rest of him has never been the same. Let alone mom not in home anymore. Much better because all that caretaker is off him but no purpose.

Well I should get up and make my soak and a few routines. Get ready for church. Check in by text with ds . Poor daddy and lil j are sick. Mommy was ok yesterday so hopefully she stays that way. Would have maybe had them over but now they want to get better first.

[trissie]

helia, having to accomodate serious food allergies does make dinner parties harder to schedule!
L.Ann, safe travels! How oftern does DD participate in these basketball events?
kittykatt, well I wouldn't want to encounter a wild cat in a natural habitat either, but maybe in a zoo?
kitkat, family always comes first!
Frenchie, so did the boys like the Cool runnings? I certainly did BTW we did Mission Impossible last night - introducing the kids to the original movies of big movie franchises. Plus, they need to be able to get the cultural references of the 1990's, given their parents grew up then!
the bug really seems to be going round, lauralind, hoping you will not fall prey to it too! And hoping church will bring you consolation and clarity today.

TaDas
- morning routine
- 1 hour on basic pick up and spiffying around the house
- lunch
- midday routine
- load of towels


ToDos
- 30 on laundry
- 30 on paperwork
- 30 in office decluttering

Braindump
routines
- afternoon routine
- evening routine
food
- dinner
- bake something sweet
- feed breadstarter
organization
- DBD's speech therapy
- update land contract
- start working on taxes
- 15 on filing
- homework and backpacks
- check the dates on seeds and note what to buy
cleaning
- clean office
- spiff up DBD's room
- spiff up twins' room
- spiff up DS13's room
- spiff up master bedroom
- spiff up master bathroom
- spiff up kitchen
- spiff up living room
- spiff up downstairs bathroom and hallways
laundry
- load of cleaning rags
- ironing
- folding
- mending
- laundry put away
me time
- 15 of exercise
- Bible study
- reading
[/quote]

[FrenchFlybebe]

trissie The kids enjoyed Cool Runnings very much. Not sure what we will watch next week. Since I'm reading LOTR with DS10 at night, they want to watch the first movie of the trilogy. I'm afraid they could have nightmares with the Nazgul or other monstrous creatures, but OTOH they've already seen The Hobbit and some awful Orcs and Wargs. Mission Impossible : we showed them a few episodes of the old TV show, so they could recognize the famous music theme. I agree this is a cultural cornerstone for kids to grow with. But they didn't understand much of the plot in the short episodes so no way they can understand the movies yet. Do all of your kids manage to grasp the plot ?

Laura, no advice on your DDad's situation, I just hope that you find answers you feel at peace with.

helia this is another very social and scheduled weekend ! So glad you have long weekends due to your payroll schedule.

L.Ann wishing you a good time at bball session and at lunch with your DSis. If I don't "see" you till then, I hope the appt today goes well.

kittykatt, have a good afternoon with your DH !

Sunday, 5.15 pm. The Frog Olympics went rather well. Then they decided to do a car race in the street, with frogs in them - I know it's weird - but DS7's remote controlled "monster truck" broke apart so all the cars and plastic frogs are now home. Ds10 is now leaving to play with DNeighbour R-- and T-- and I think DS7 will stay and play on a screen
As for me I spent time with ChatGPT preparing an email for Boss. Basically being 5-10 minutes late most mornings can't be used by her to freely alter my afternoon schedule, so I will write about how so far I caught up on missed time by making shorter lunchbreaks and whether she can be ok with it, and remind her my schedule is still 5.30. She can't really write back "No I decided your shecule has changed" and no one can blame me for trying to find solutions. But if I stay with nothing in writing, I'm trapped, and she will make demands from me at 5.30 that will be difficult to turn down.
I know she won't "like" receiving my email, but I need to protect my rights. She enjoys unclear situations and "blurred" lines, but they put me under a ton of stress.

TADAs
finish lunch prep : peel potatoes, cube kuri squash, + bake something
finish morning routine
meal
mostly cleaned up
watched frog olympics and some real olympic events
time with AI for advice on work situation
prepared mail to counterattack Boss's manipulative schemes - maybe a few changes still to make
a short walk outside

TODO
vacuum upstairs
fold yesterday's lol if dry
more online shopping for secondhand ski clothes ( I still need waterproof gloves, and so does DS10, and we need ski boots)
really relax, I hope
make list for next week
Dinner will be store-bought frozen paella, not tasty but easy
showers, bedtime stories, bags ready...
final email ready on gmail
sleep early

[trissie]

Frenchie, having watched M:I for the first time since having seen in in the theatre in 1996 - that film has more holes than plot, so I had problems grasping what is going on given how little sense it made But my older kids are way into teen-hood (DS is fourteen and a half and the twins are 13) and at their age, I was already digesting content that I kinda would deem inappropriate for them I know I was a weird intellectual kid, but by seventh grade I had already read all of Shakespeare plays, and was halfway through the original sources on Ancient Rome and trust me, those Roman historians really didn't hold back on anything! But I guess I turned out just right?

I'm so happy with my paperwork progress this weekend! I viciously attacked the filing box of instruction manuals, got rid of anything that we no longer own and tore out the foreign language pages for things we have (in Europe, you'll get an instruction manual with most of/all EU official languages versions, so there manuals tend to be pretty thick). The paper recycling bag is very heavy and my box is now rather empty

TaDas
- 30 on laundry
- 30 on paperwork
- 30 in office decluttering
- towels flipped to dryer
- clean office
- some homework with kids
- afternoon routine
- bread dough (buttermilk toast bread) started

ToDos
- homework and backpacks
- dinner
- evening routine

Braindump
routines
- evening routine
food
- dinner
- bake something sweet
- feed breadstarter
organization
- DBD's speech therapy
- update land contract
- start working on taxes
- check the dates on seeds and note what to buy
cleaning
- spiff up DBD's room
- spiff up twins' room
- spiff up DS13's room
- spiff up master bedroom
- spiff up master bathroom
- spiff up kitchen
- spiff up living room
- spiff up downstairs bathroom and hallways
laundry
- load of cleaning rags
- ironing
- folding
- mending
- laundry put away
me time
- 15 of exercise
- Bible study
- reading

[Doggedly]

Hello, all. Thank you for starting us off, Kittykatt. How exciting for fans of Hamish MacBeth. We all remember his Scottish Wildcat flying in out of nowhere to save him from the bad guys. And do you remember when MacBeth brought the wrong Scottish Wildcat home? Speaking as a person who has twice tried to bring the wrong black Labrador home from the dog park--two separate unrelated wrong black Labradors--I had some sympathy for the confusion of both man and cat.

(((trissie))) I hope that you are able to enjoy your Sunday despite the cold.

LOL, FrenchFly, I'm glad to hear that your dkids are not traumatized by watching Olympic skiing and bobsledding. Can you tell that you are talking to someone who has never been a parent?

kitkat, I have found something to appreciate about the cold. CBC radio had a show about rats today. Ottawa has had much worse problems with rats than we normally do. Apparently, rats don't cope well with cold winters, and one of their survival strategies is to stop breeding in the cold. Our past few warm winters were probably not cold enough to suppress the breeding, hence the extra rat population that we are not set up to cope with. This cold snap should help us out here.

LOL, Kittykatt, I think that you are about as far from the Scottish Wildcat's range as you can get without getting on a boat.

Have a good time at basketball and lunch, L.Ann.

I'm up to the end of Page 1. Time for breakfast.

Sunday
Put away dry laundry
Cleaned up after dog
Put away dry dishes/cutlery
Breakfast for Germane
Benedryl for Germane
CUOP

[helia]

FFB, I hope the email is well-received.
That's amazing trissie that you read all the Shakespeare plays before 7th grade! Most kids that age aren't very interested in them. I was introduced to my first one in 7th grade - and I liked it a lot. The Merchant of Venice. I read Shakespeare plays throughout HS as assigned, read a few more just for fun, and even took a Shakespeare class as an elective at University. I've seen umpteen number of the plays on stage. However, I still haven't read - or seen - all of them!! I think there are 37/ 38? And BWTG on the paperwork decluttering!
trissie and FFB, I agree - Mission Impossible movies have huge holes and convoluted turns in the plots. You just have to sit back and enjoy the action shots and try turn your brain off -- which, I know, is impossible to truly do. LOL!
Happy breakfast, Doggedly!

Dh and I are home from church. I'm finishing lunch. We've both commented on how entertaining the wildlife is today. A small group of turkeys, including one male, have taken to hanging out on our street, like across from the house next to us. They've been there for about 3 days now. They are not afraid of cars. In fact, we've seen the tom gobble and charge cars; when I've driven past, he runs alongside my car gobbling aggressively. Dh says he's keeping the cars from mating with his female turkeys. A few times a day, we see a line of cars backed up in front of our house and hear honking horns and gobbling turkeys. Then there's always the birds jockeying for position at the feeder. Today, for the first time in a long time, we saw a (very large) gray squirrel. It was in the tree nearest the bird feeder. It seemed to be eyeing the feeder but made no attempt to get to it.

Next:
- refill bird feeder
- bring in firewood
- dress to exercise

Later:
- NY cards progress
- refill bird feeder
- bring in firewood
- gym
- out 3:15 - 6:15 CG2
- host Sunday dinner for up to 8 people
- after dinner clean up
- duolingo
- update health apps

TaDas!
- up; skipped weighing
- coffee
- email deletions + weather website
- reclaimed kitchen
- back exercises
- s2s and self care
- make the bed
- 10 - 12 church
- home; lunch - wip

[trissie]

helia, even as a kid, I was very curious, so if there was a subject that caught my interest, I would just go from there in widening circles. Mind you, before internet that meant going to the library and researching the library cards by subject to get a list of books! So anyways, this all started with a movie - I watched the 1963 Cleopatra movie on TV and became kinda obsessed with Cleopatra (resulting in my lifelong fascination with Egypt) and Iulius Caeasar (sorry, Marc Antony, you never did for me). So when I went to the library to research the key word "Iulius Caesar", lo and behold, there was "play by William Shakespeare" as one of the entries! Grabbed the book, read all five of the classical tragedies in the "Tragedies, volume 1", loved it, borrowed the rest of the plays, and two different Shakespeare biographies, because in for a penny, in for a pound, rehearsed a scene from Hamlet with a couple classmates instead of writing a paper on Shakespeare (we all got A+ for the effort, but I kinda think the paper would have taken less time), discovered I loved DOING theatre, not just watching it... and on and on it went! And it all started with a Hollywood classic seen on late night TV

Dogged, always look on the bright side of life (had to stop to whistle) - you will appreciate fewer rats once you a** thaw!

TaDas
- homework and backpacks
- dinner
- evening routine

ToDos
- bake bread
- DBD's speech therapy
- 15 on downstairs pick up

Braindump
food
- feed breadstarter
- bake something sweet
organization
- update land contract
- start working on taxes
- check the dates on seeds and note what to buy
cleaning
- spiff up DBD's room
- spiff up twins' room
- spiff up DS13's room
- spiff up master bedroom
- spiff up master bathroom
- spiff up kitchen
- spiff up living room
- spiff up downstairs bathroom and hallways
laundry
- load of cleaning rags
- ironing
- folding
- mending
- laundry put away
me time
- 15 of exercise
- Bible study
- reading

[Doggedly]

I guess that it's a mixed blessing that your bird feeder is so popular, helia. Lots of bird seed needed to maintain it, but lots of birds to watch too.
I never know whether to wish you to enjoy your super-scheduled days or to wish you luck, LOL. Either way, I hope that it's a good one.

Lauralind, I am happy to say that our foxes are not interested in making our acquaintance here. I only know that we have them because I surprised one while walking my dog one night. I can't remember whether it was Dreadnaught or Germane, but they are both small dogs. The dog jumped back to the end of the leash, I jumped back as far as my knees would accommodate, and fox jumped right out into the middle of the road. Luckily, it was the middle of the night so there was no traffic. I reassured the dog and headed back home, and the fox ran to the grassy boulevard and watched us from there.

LOL, trissie, I think of Mission Impossible as a cultural reference to the 60's. Showing my age.

The frog Olympics sound fun, FrenchFly. I hope that the monster truck is not a permanent casualty.
WTG on getting that Dreaded Email done. You are right to protect your rights. It just wasn't done early in my career. People would bottle it up and simmer in their resentment until they broke out in a midlife crisis. The modern way is so much healthier.

trissie, you were much more advanced than I was. Between 10 and 12 I was reading my way through a set of encyclopedia because that is what I had available to me. I read the plots of Shakespear's plays in them, much reduced and simplified. But I think that it did me good, as the plots had a familiar feel when I was introduced to the plays. I loved them, but later in life than you.
I've read all of the plays at one time or another, except for Titus Andronicus. It is too violent and gory for me. I started, but could never get through it, and honestly don't want to. But then on my tape deck I always hit the fast forward when King Lear got to "Out! Out! Vile jelly!" Not listening to that.
Big WTG on the paperwork. That is always so time-consuming that it is hard to feel the progress.

helia, sending congratulations to your tom turkey for warding off all possible car-turkey matings. Clearly, his strategy has been a success.

I have a goal to report on. I kept putting off changing internet providers, but I am paying far too much for internet with Bell. Yes, it is rock-solid reliable and I have internet when those around me have outages, but I'm paying through the nose for something that I no longer need for work. I've been looking into alternatives, and finally made a decision. This afternoon, I signed up with the same company that I have my mobile phone with. They use the cable company's infrastructure which is not as reliable as Bell's, but it should be fine. If it's really bad, I'm not locked into a contract. And once I have tested it out and dropped Bell, I'll be paying about a third of what I now pay. After the first year, I'll still be paying only half of what I pay Bell. All part of inching toward living within my means to see if I can put off going back to work.

LOL, trissie, now I have that song going around my head!

Sunday
Put away dry laundry
Dressed
Cleaned up after dog
Put away dry dishes/cutlery
Breakfast for Germane
Benedryl for Germane
CUOP
Scrubbed out sink and basin
Washed a few basinsful of dishes
Wiped down accessible surfaces
Made breakfast
Called my mobile phone provider and ordered home internet and TV

[L.Ann]

Special Olympics seasons are typically 8-12 weeks, Trissie. Basketball is the worse for the number of tournaments than most of the other sports and all the tournaments are 90 to 120 minutes away. This year they are at least pretty well spaced out over 2 months. It was a nice day but the drive tires me out.

1-finish washing doors and woodwork
2-read
3-FACE



Menus
Monday-garlic lime chicken and roasted veggies
Tuesday-salmon with bok choy and scallion rice
Wednesday-DD33 out/left overs for me
Thursday-sheet pan Asian crispy shrimp with rice and green beans
Friday-chorizo enchiladas
Saturday-left overs
Sunday-

Events
Monday-Little Bit 3-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3, radiation 10
Tuesday-Little Bit 7:40-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3, breakfast out with friends
Wednesday-Little Bit 3-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3, radiation 9, rheumatologist for DD33@3 then PS 3:30-8
Thursday-Little Bit 7:40-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3, valentine dance 2:30-3:30 for DD33
Friday-Little Bit 7:40-5, Little Bit school 9:15-3
Saturday-bball 9:30-10:30
Sunday-walk with friend????

Weekly House Blessing-mop dining room, kitchen, bathroom
Detailed cleaning of hall-wash walls, detailed vacuuming, clean appliance closet, clean woodwork-1/2 done, wash doors-one more to do, wash louver doors-1more set to do
Extra stuff-send letter to friend of DM
January paperwork-spare room- DM’s papers
Death book-updates, call lawyer for appointment to review will and DD33’s POAs
Phone calls- call and make dermatology appointment, make eye appointments

Accomplishments
-breakfast for dog and me
-diet site
-stretching and knee exercises
-dress and pick up bedroom
-start laundry
-load car
-bball tournament
-lunch out
-dust
-walk inside