St John's Wort Sunday

[helia]

FFB, I started The Dutch House by Ann Patchett but didn't finish it. I did like it so I want to reread it and finish it some day. I wonder if you'll like it?

[trissie]

Frenchie, I think the US washers use hot water and hence the cycles are short? My usual non-eco friendly is 2 hours (and as it adjusts automatically based on weight and amount of dirt particles in the water, it can easily go to 3 hours). With 6 people and the twins being teens, it's at least a load a day (lights on Mon+Thu, colors Tue+Fri, darks Wed+Sat, towels Sat/Sun, plus cleaning rags and occasional wool or sports stuff). And it's far worse in winter, when they each go through 3 or 4 thick sweatshirts a week, so sometimes not even my 10kg washer will fit a 3 days worth of darks!
helia, I think most new washers have the delay start function, but maybe it's more common in Europe!
kitkat, kids really have a way of tiring you out!

It's raining, so my outdoor involvement will be limited. But there's plenty to do indoors which will free my hands once I can work outside!

TaDas
- 15 on laundry
- start lunch
- 30 on general pick up
- midday routine

ToDos
- clean DBD's school backpack
- 30 on laundry
- check the dates on seeds and note what to buy

Braindump
routines
- afternoon routine
- evening routine
food
- dinner
- bake something sweet
- feed bread starter
organization
- homework and backpacks - especially DS
- DBD's speech therapy
- update land contract
- 15 on filing
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 floor
- spiff up living room
- spiff up downstairs bathroom and hallways
- spiff up office
laundry
- load of towels
- load of ski jackets
- ironing
- folding
- mending
- laundry put away
garden and outside
- start seeds
- prune fruit trees
- pick up - front garden / porch
- pick up - backyards
- start cleaning out the carpool
me time
- 15 of exercise
- Bible study
- reading
[/quote]

[Bama]

Good morning! Happy March!

Welcome back, trissie and Frenchie!
Do your washers wash in cold water only?

Trissie, hope you’re better rested. I can’t sleep w dh and his snoring.

Thanks for the info on herbs, kittykatt. I thought self heal Saturday was self explanatory until I read it was a plant. So interesting. I could probably use some st John’s wort today as I am feeling worried this morning, dunno why so moving about to shed emotions.
Happy spring! Will have to go back as I missed the link.

See you soon hopefully Dogged.

Frenchie, a riding mower or the kind you walk behind and push? I enjoy both and seeing the lines they make in the yard.

Kitkat, once a week laundry does seem a little unrealistic, there’s clothes, sheets, towels, etc x each person. Even one person would take several loads…
Hope you had fun sitting w grand and can rest up now.

Helia, enjoy trip planning. Hope the weather behaves.

Yesterday was a lazy day, I did sit outside and enjoy the nice weather some. Spring is definitely here. It was beautiful. Looks like another beautiful day here. We need to ride to the next county over for an auction win, they’re having a vintage market so may stop there, and I need to give my dbrother some paperwork so he will stop bugging me to do it (I can’t, he’s executor so I have no authority) and he can read and see what he needs to do at his own leisure, plus it might be nice to visit a bit. May stop at an old restaurant that serves “home cooked” meals on the way back. I’d like to work outside some but not sure if there is time for that or not.
I sent dh out to get breakfast, sounds like he’s back so I guess I need to get moving.
Enjoy your day!

[trissie]

Finally some sun! Only it's 5:30, so not much will get done

Bama, my DMIL and DFIL have had a separate bedroom ever since their kids moved out. I admit I do understand!

TaDas
- clean DBD's school backpack
- 30 on laundry
- check the dates on seeds and note what to buy
- load of towels running

ToDos
- afternoon routine
- prune fruit trees
- 30 inside

Braindump
routines
- evening routine
food
- dinner
- bake something sweet
- feed bread starter
organization
- homework and backpacks - especially DS
- DBD's speech therapy
- update land contract
- 15 on filing
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 floor
- spiff up living room
- spiff up downstairs bathroom and hallways
- spiff up office
laundry
- load of ski jackets
- ironing
- folding
- mending
- laundry put away
garden and outside
- start seeds
- pick up - front garden / porch
- pick up - backyards
- start cleaning out the carpool
me time
- 15 of exercise
- Bible study
- reading

[kitkat]

helia we expect rain later this week...
FFly let us know how you like The Dutch House!
trissie - it's why we have kids while we are young...
Bama I always have fun with my DLittle:) She is very loving, bright. I love spending time with her.

I had a nice time with DDIL after class: coffee at Starbucks:)
Played with Dpup - "find it" game:)
Took out garb/rec

Next;
strip bed /start lol
water flowers
clean glass (as start for WHB)

[Kittykatt]

Hello, everyone!

FFB, I hope Mr NG can find a suitable mower. (If the old one is petrol driven, sometimes dipping the points in petrol can drive out any moisture and persuade the mower to start).

Trissie, yay for a good night's sleep! I could never do laundry once a week either, even though it's just the two of us and the cats. I don't have a tumble dryer, so drying a whole week's worth of laundry in one go would be a nightmare - especially when it's raining or cold outside!

Helia, the cherry cake I made is for us to snack on during the week (I try not to buy shop cakes /biscuits as they're often far too sweet, often have a strange texture and may be stuffed full of things such as "emulsifiers". My washing machine has a delay start too - very useful!

KitKat, I'm sure the DGKids are great fun to be with, but also exhausting

Bama, my washing machine is cold fill, but heats its own water, to whatever temperature is desired. Trissie is right, and the European machines do tend to take a lot longer to complete a programme, (my cotton wash I use for the towels takes nearly 3 hours, other programmes less time) but I think use a lot less water.

I hope you slept well, Dogged!

Today after the service we had a church brunch, to celebrate our patronal festival. The coffees went smoothly -people were eating and chatting more than drinking.

Today's lunch was roast pork belly on a bed of apples, roast potatoes, gravy, carrots, green beans, Savoy cabbage, and apple sauce, followed by rhubarb crumble made from the new season's sweet pink forced rhubarb and cream.

I've folded laundry and PA, taken Freddie out, had a few minutes in my front garden before the rain came, and had some lap time with Jude. I've retired to the sofa now, and I have a selection of things I could do here -I think I'll read the new edition of the parish magazine first.

[Kittykatt]

To do:
Cuddles and snack for Matilda, Jude and Freddie
Bible reading and meditation
Update latest Waitrose order
Cup of tea
Get up!
Scrub out litter trays (DH)
Change sheets on bed
Shower/wash hair/moisturiser and sunblock/ clean and floss teeth
S/S bathroom
Physio exercises
Get dressed in casual clothes
Give everyone fresh water
Cat breakfast and meds /supplements
Breakfast and meds /vitamins for me
Hang up sheets to dry
Quick kitchen clean up
Load DW
Quick PUPA downstairs
Quick dust and Hoover downstairs
Change into smarter outfit
OTD to church
Coffees and brunch after church
Back home again, change back into casual clothes
Meat in oven
Coffee with DH
Put potatoes to roast
Put up my vitamins and supplements for the week
Weigh out Jude's and Matilda's dry food for the week
Quick PUPA upstairs
15 minutes in tiny front garden
15 minutes in back garden
Dish up lunch
Walk Freddie
Lap time with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Head rubs with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Play with Freddie, Jude, Matilda
Fold laundry and PA
Run DW when full
Unload DW
Post list with my plans for the week
Clothes laid out for tomorrow

Extras:
[/quote]

[helia]

That's a great idea, Kitty, with the cake to snack on during the week. A lot healthier. Both dh and I are so fond of sweets I don't think it would last long in our home!! LOL! I don't buy any sweets for that reason - unless there's a special event/ celebration. Nice - rhubarb and cream.
Those are indoor flowers you're watering, right kitkat? Coffee with DDIL after exercise - nice!
Glad it's spring somewhere, Bama.
Will the sunshine continue tomorrow, trissie?

We got home from church around 12:20. I'm almost done with lunch. Then I'll do lunch clean up and general tidying/ spiffing for CG2. After that's done, I'll work on exam prep and either read for fun or work on writing until 3:30. --Oh, wait -- I wanted to walk. I'll see if I can get a walk in. It will probably be no longer than 30 minutes.

Next:
- lunch
- after lunch clean up
- make the bed

Later:
- lists in notebook
- payroll: exam prep progress
- writing time
- spiff main bathroom
- tidy living room
- can I get in a walk?
- 3:30 - 6-ish host CG2
- 6 - ? host Sunday dinner - How will we warm up the food when we're hosting 2 events back to back?
- after dinner clean up
- duolingo
- update health apps

TaDas!
- up; weighed self - up a bit (I ate a lot with the afternoon potluck)
- coffee
- email deletions + weather websites
- back exercises
- s2s and self care
- church
- home; lunch

[Doggedly]

Hello, all. I've been up and glued to CBC Radio, but now my most favourite shows are done and I am ready to dive in. I have had little crises that have resolved themselves, so that is quite a relief. The first is Germane's eating. She had gone completely off of dog food, and decided that she no longer liked potatoes and then even went off of carrots. That left me with pieces of fish or meat that she would accept. I was going through the freezer looking for what I could cook for her, but I knew that we couldn't just go along like that. Anyway, last night I bought a kilo of frozen fish and cooked a piece with my pizza in the oven, and she ilked the new fish. (basa) Then I went through the fridge and threw away all of the open containers of dog food. I felt that I was throwing away perfectly good dog food by opening another can, but I opened a can of First Mate just to try. And she loved it! I had taken all of the other cans of First Mate back to the pet food store because Germane was rejecting it, but this week it's delicious again. She keeps coming out of the bathroom and leading me to the kitchen (or the walk in closet, as she gets confused) for another spoonful. We have been tearing through that can, and I'm so relieved. It's our only can of First Mate, so I'll try her on Performatrin next. Of course, I have a good supply of Go! because that's all that she would eat before, and now she won't touch it.

The other little crisis is that I had a senior moment when I tried to deposit my OAS cheque yesterday, and forgot my PIN number. So the bank locked down my card and I couldn't deposit the cheque. I wasn't worried; I can get it sorted out and deposit the cheque during the week. This morning I tried to log into my account to check that I have enough money to cover rent, which is due tomorrow, and found that the bank had locked me out of that too. So then I worried, because I've never been late with rent before, and I don't know what's in my account. So I called the bank and waited on hold, and they got it sorted out, so I was able to log into my account and get things sorted. Whew!

Now I can turn my attention to today's goals: the main one is cooking. I have a big beautiful surprisingly cheap pork roast to get into the oven with vegetables. But first I have to do dishes. I have kept putting off dishes while I focussed on playing with the new TV gadgets and I'm not sure what else. Oh, yes, laundry. I got that done one day, and I think I went out shopping twice. During that time of neglect, the dishes have multiplied and crept around to cover every surface in my galley kitchen. So I will have to reclaim real estate in order to have space to cook.

I do have another little tech project that is intriguing me, which is not a today thing. I have a gadget that I just love. It looks like a transistor radio. There's another part that was plugged into the TV, to broadcast the sound to my radio part. It let me keep the TV's volume at a reasonable level, but carry the speaker around with me so I could be at the other end of the apartment and still here. Well, the Roku has made that speaker system unnecessary, because it casts the sound to my phone, so I can keep my phone in my pocket and carry the sound with me. So now I'm eyeing the projector and wondering if I can get these incompatible devices to work together. Because I can see the projector's image just find from the kitchen, but I have to turn the volume up quite high to hear properly from there. The transmitter uses RCA cables and also a USB cable. I think that the USB is strictly for power, so I can slap a power adapter on the end of that and plug it into a power bar. But for the audio, I'm wondering if I have to get an RCA to HDMI adapter, or if it will accept any audio source and I was just using RCA cables because my TV is so old. Oh, and I want to connect my phone to the projector to watch a show from the phone. And at some point, do the same with my DVD player. But that's not a today thing.

FrenchFly, luckily for me, I don't need need large lungs and good arms or a very good ear to listen to bagpipe music. And luckily for my neighbours, I have never attempted to play them.
That's wonderful that you had such good weather for your trip.
I'll play catchup in my kitchen along with you.

trissie, how nice to have flowers coming up already. You give me hope that we will see spring eventually.
You have a great laundry routine. It works for you, which is what matters.

Enjoy your store walk with the dog, kitkat. You are a little warmer than we are today.

LOL, I love that reminder, helia. I wish that I could use it for my alarm sound.
I hope that the weather is better than expected during your trip.

Bama, I misread Self-healing differently. I thought it was that plant that self-healed, like a hardy ground cover that will fill back in if you damage it while walking on it.
It sounds like you have a very nice day planned. Enjoy it!

I'll bet that separate bedrooms have saved a lot of marriages, trissie!

Your lunch sounds delicious, as always, Kittykatt.

I am the odd one out on laundry. I do it once a week. That doesn't empty out every laundry bag, but gives me plenty to work with. I am limited by how much space I have to hang the laundry to finish drying in my apartment. The dryer never seems to get it all the way dry, and I'm not allowed to hang it outside. My room is full of hangning laundry most days of the week, and there isn't room to do any extra loads!

Good reminder, helia. I have indoor plants that probably would like some water again.

Sunday
Cleaned up after dog
Breakfast for Germane–she’s eating again!
Tried to check online that there is enough money in the chequing account to cover the rent: the bank locked down my account when I forgot my card PIN yesterday
Called bank
Got my account unlocked.
I think that I remember my PIN, so agent did not change it. That’s good, because I would have had to get back to the ATM within 2 hours, and we are back to winter temperatures (windchill between -20 C and -30.) Aaand, my bank has started locking us out of the ATM lobby outside of bank hours because homeless people where sheltering there
FACE: paid bills, checked balances
Fed dog multiple times. I opened that can last night, and we are down to about a third of the can left. Such a relief!

[Kittykatt]

So glad Germane is eating again, Dogged - that must be a big relief for you. And WTG sorting out the bank!

I'm going.to they and post my list for the week - I have a busy week ahead and need to makes sure I don't forget anything.