Thinkin' Thursday

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Harriet's post of last night got me thinking about planning. Reminded me of these lyrics:

Wishin', and hopin', and thinkin', and prayin',
Planning and dreamin' each night of his charms.
That won't get you into his arms

Remember a few minutes of planning can save you an hour or more in some cases. That's why Pam and Peggy had us develop Basic Weekly Plans and then, later, designed the zone system. That way we could plan what needed to be done.

The timing of chores helped us see where to slot things in.

For me, re-timing the SHE system when the kids were older was what helped me successfully use the tool that I had been using unsuccessfully for a while. Timing when dd was a baby and we had the 3 bedroom house was a lot different when I two very mobile (therefore adding to mess) kids and a 4 bedroom house.

Once I retimed things I realized that when I had an extra couple of minutes before heading out the door it was NOT enough time to do 'that little chore that only takes a sec.' That got me using some 'extra minutes' fully (like when on the phone) and to stop abusing the 'just a sec' moments and ending up late because I kept leaving the house late.

Wishin and hopin, isn't going to get us there but thinkin and plannin will help us get our lives to a more peaceful state.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

While I said I didn't do anything yesterday, I did work on the Sunday School lesson so I planned what copies I need to make when I'm at the church office. That will save a bit of time this morning, plus the lesson is taking form in my mind and a bit on paper. Lots to make for this lesson.

Dh leaves today for 10 days. His possible extra trip to Amsterdam fell through and judging by how pleased he was that he isn't going, I'm wondering why he bid on the job in the first place. They only need to train 3 people and we charge for a minimum of 10. Plus expenses - and they didn't think it would cost much for him to pop over the Channel to visit but he travels on discount tickets so that cost was actually almost $2K to change the ticket. I don't know if things work way different in Europe or if they just didn't have a clue that changing a ticket isn't easy. Discount business class was $4K, changeable was $8K, so dh bought the cheaper ticket to save the client in England money. Too bad for the client in Holland, but then again, why should that client get the other client to pay for the expensive part of the ticket? From England to Holland, return, was about $250 but they were ignoring their share of the transatlantic ticket.

I've got a lot planned while dh is away.

Update Quicken investments
Get the business books up to date
Produce the annual report for church
Make up presentations to give to the church boards and write an article for the church newsletter about the big issue in front of our board.
Pack for the trip to Africa
Prep the house for Africa (find a house checker, cancel mail, etc.)
Catch up on housework so I'll come home to a clean house.

That's a lot for 10 days. We leave in 21 days so I'll have time after dh gets back to do the trip stuff and I'll focus on paperwork for now.

[OKay]

Good Morning!

It is soooo very wonderful to come here and witness good habits being formed and executed. It gives me encouragement even though I don't comment on it as often as I should.

It was another long night with LO. Around midnight he lost his medicine to keep his temperature down and that left me unsure how much had been adsorbed into his body. I wasn't comfortable giving him more soooo midnight found us taking a bath and playing in the water. He thought it was a fun thing to do in the middle of the night and I liked that it brought his body temperature down without having to give more medication. He is still snoozing so I am enjoying a extra cup of coffee in the quiet of the morning.

Today is more about doing than thinkin' for me. I've already thought through the SHE cards that need to be done and have them assigned to a time slot. It's nice to not need to keep rethinking the basics over and over.

33 = completed cards this morning

LucyLee - in response to your FB & DDIL question. I would feel controlled if my DMIL told me when I could post/share my information with others. And I would probably have a tiny bit feeling of being stalked.....

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

(((Okay))) I wish you a peaceful day and hope you aren't too tired to enjoy the blessings it will hold.

I'm progressing here. Exercise is done and I've s2s. I'm having my tea and chocolate. I've also unloaded the clean dishes from the dish rack and put the dirty ones into soak in the sink. Dh was shocked that I told him to leave the dishes (it was 7 minutes worth, tops) but I was anxious to get to bed and knew it wouldn't make a big difference today.

I've edited the last item I have to print off at the church, so that's ready to go.

Now to eat my breakfast!

[c2c]

Morning girls,
I replied earlier and it is lost in space somewhere,
I have my planner out getting things together,
Today I will be working on reports, have 2 deadlines, one of Jan 31, the other Feb 20, make it 3, the 3rd being April 15,
Today marks a year of being in our new home! And I can see gremlins creeping in, so I have to get a Poda together so we de litter in the coming weeks,
First going to make pancakes

[OKay]

Thanks Kathryn! I'm looking forward to seeing the progress you make during the next 10 days on that huge stack of responsibilities.

C2C - YGG!! It's good to see you posting here! Congrat's on the 1 year in new home anniversary!

LO is up and full of energy so I think he is on the mend. He is still congested, but it's amazing how fast the young can recover from things.

62 cards completed.

[Harriet]

Ooooh, I said something intelligent last night? (I had to go back and read.) Yes, completely agree the Basic Weekly Plan concept is vital stuff. Now that I am dealing with in-home caregiving for the first time, there is a 52-card pickup again, but when you give time to your planning you can right yourself. There is still a feeling of "no two days are the same around here", but the point of the BWP is that you have somewhere to aim and with that point of reference, you see how far you missed and can correct for it.

Already had my response to lucylee half-planned, got back from school run and see that OKay disagrees with me! LOL! Nevertheless, must still report that it truly hurt my feelings when HRH and I called my dear, close cousin Mary to let her be the first person we told precious news, and she stammered that her daughter had already read it on FB the night before and told her all about it then. Then we had the fun (NOT) of discovering how many, other family and friends already knew as soon as we did, and how many didn't, by surprise with each call that, of course, we still felt obliged to make, no longer enjoying it. Ddil also told way too much on FB before/during labor and then had a long, long, difficult labor, wearied by well-wishers who kept calling, texting, etc., unable to believe it was taking so long! Now THAT was a bad idea.

Hi, c2c! I'm glad you came back and posted again to make sure we heard from you! Happy anniversary to your home!

[BookSaver]

Good morning, villagers ~

Hi c2c! It's great to see you again.
(Okay) I hope you and LO can get some rest today.
Very interesting conversations in PWYC yesterday.
Kathryn ~ Great photos of your ds in our Members forum. Though since I have a terrible fear of heights, it makes my heart stop to see anyone climbing without a safety harness.
Harriet ~ I knew you would appreciate my joy at being able to play with pretty fabrics, even if I was stuck cutting all day.

My day has taken a major shift. I thought DSis and I had made plans to get together this evening. Instead she has to do something for the high school booster club, and we'll do Sunday instead.

That actually works much better for me anyway. There's a lot of snow heading our way to hit tomorrow. I need to plan to be housebound Friday and probably Saturday.

Also need to plan DPC to neighbor this afternoon to ask him to remind whoever does his snow plowing that they are NOT to push his snow into our yard. I don't know why he thinks it's ok, I've asked several times that he stop, and there's a city ordinance specifically prohibiting it. Among other things, it ends up creating a safety hazard for me because it's a huge mountain at the end of my driveway that I can't see over or around to get my car out onto the street. He's pushing the snow for the whole block on us. Which also makes me have to carry my own snow farther instead of being able to use my own yard, and I'm shoveling my driveway by hand.

First up is to check freezer and cupboards to see if I need to stop at the grocery store when I go out for lunch.

[Twins' Mom]

Looking in - I am home today as a "personal" day. Just got back from vet - dMacs is having surgery today (teeth cleaning and a wart removal) and I stayed with him for awhile after he got his pre-surgery prep. Also rec'd yesterday news that his liver results are "off" and took in a urine sample this morning and they are also running a test today for Cushings disease, as he has some symptoms. Poor guy.

I also have an appt at 12:30 for a hair cut so would be very late getting to work today plus gone at lunch for awhile - so I will work tomorrow instead. For now, I'm not busy enough that I need to do both.

Found an acceptable "cocktail" dress yesterday afternoon at the mall. Possibly could have shopped much longer and done better (in terms of more flattering style) but this dress is suitable, festive and not too overdone or expensive. Qualifies as a "little black dress" so can be worn to other functions. Also got some accessories - although last night dh announced I need something "pink" because it a breast cancer affair and I can promise that pink accessories aren't my thing.

I think Lucylee could suggest gently to ddil that it would be nice to clue the grandparents in first before announcing the gender on Facebook? Doesn't mean that ddil has to follow that protocol, but suggestive that they might feel hurt with others finding out the so-very-exciting-news earlier on Facebook....

[Harmony]

Mornin' everyone.

Lucylee, I understand you wanting to know first. Maybe just casually ask, can we know before you post it? And then if it doesn't happen, don't feel bad. That's the way the younger generation lives. One of my DD's expects me to look into my fb page all the time and feels slighted when I don't, like I don't care what's going on with them. I, on the other hand, used to feel slighted when she didn't tell me stuff. I've sorta given up worrying about all that. It's the way this generation is.

OKay, sure hope LO keeps getting better and you both get some rest soon.

Harriet, I know your plans are changing with the extra work you now have. I tried and tried to schedule everything, and plan ahead. With getting interrupted either with DH here at home or needing me to run errands, I was pretty much always annoyed. Now I try to keep things "loose", having a sort-of plan and hope-for chore list, and do what I can when I can. Works better for me I guess.

I don't know where I am with focus / zones. Mine are different from most others. There is a lot of outside work in winter for us it seems. I need to get back to weeding and raking. In March I will need to do a lot of pruning.

This morning so far I've taken down all the outside Christmas lights, packed them away in totes, picked up all the clips; also got all the lights off the plants as they didn't make enough warmth to be helpful. Awful job, those lights were tangled with their clips all over the tomato cages, etc. I hope DH never tries that again. Rolled up big extension cords too. Big job, glad to be done.

Going to do sit down jobs for a while. I woke up with a bit of vertigo. I don't feel sick but there is some pressure in my ears, though they don't hurt. I feel dizzy when I swing my head around.

Nice to have you here with us S2S! Twins, I hope Macs will be ok.