TA-DA! THURSDAY

[Sunny]

Hello Everyone! I could have sworn I posted yesterday, but no, I didn't. I do remember talking to you all -- out loud, no less!

Dee...that's wonderful for your dgd's report card. I hope things remain calm for you with her. Hope you get the other issues taken care of quickly.

((Harriet))...that certainly is an iffy situation. Maybe ddad will take a nap this afternoon and change that train of thought.

Step parents & names....With so many separations/divorces it is a real issue. My ddil#2 was previously married before ds#2 and had a daughter, dgd17. They divorced when dgd was only a couple of years old. When ddil met my ds dgd called him by his first name, and even after they married. She called dh and me by our first names also. She was disappointed time after time when her father said he would come see her and then not come. She gradually started to call ds daddy. After a few years of dragging his feet ddil's ex finally signed the papers allowing ds to formally adopt dgd. She was 8 years old by then. They asked dh and I to be at the meeting with them, the judge and the ex. Finally the last few years she has been calling us Papa and Grandma. Of course we considered her our granddaughter from the time our ds and ddil were married!

My Ta-Da...the house is finally back to normal. I had run out of laundry soap and fab. softener. Yesterday we made a trip to W-M to stock up on groceries and cleaning supplies. The last of the sheets and towels are in the dryer now. Ds/ddil stripped the beds the morning they left (first time they did that, and had even done a load of towels they took to the beach when they did their clothes to go home). Carpets are swept and furniture is dusted again. I want to put sheets back on the beds, but will do that later.

We've had thunderstorms rumbling around us most of the afternoon. It rained hard early this morning, about 7 am, also.

We're having spinach pie for supper and it's ready to come out of the oven......

[Twins' Mom]

It seems I can't put things off any longer.

Made a phone call to the pharmacy. Can I get a ta-da for that?

I need to get in the shower, must go by cleaners by six p.m. and need to be at federation at seven. I also need to run by my office to get some temple materials and my iPad, which I left there on Tuesday.

Okay.....to the shower!

[lucylee]

Definitely deserve a ta-da for DPC, Twins. (Sometimes ANY phone call is difficult, right?)

DH & I walked 2 miles. He is out poisoning ants now; in a minute I'm going to help him do some trimming on shrubs. (My job is mostly to follow him around the house w/the wheelbarrow, LOL.)

I also completed a little bit of typing I needed to do for school newspaper stuff.

Everybody check out J&C!

[Harmony]

Sunny, I love how that all worked out in your family with DGD.

We had a short rain, but mostly clouds and darkness today. We may get some more later.

Made the trip out with package of papers and that job is on its way. Customer has given us a short time limit as he is going up north and wants to be finished. This, after him waiting a couple weeks to decide. It will be busy for DH for a little while. He had another call and went out to look at something. His mood is definitely better. Being slow is a real downer, this flurry of requests lifted both our spirits.

(Harriet) I suppose you could go in there and jiggle something and flush and say "see, you've fixed it just fine, thanks so much"...and see what happens then.... you do have a tough situation these days.

Yes, Lucy, that was definitely a ta-da to get all that sweeping done. Last time I did mine I didn't even bother to get out the vacuum, I used a broom and the dust-buster to pick up the little pile of stuff. Works ok except for the couple carpets...definitely not a ta-da job result though. How is DSon doing with your other sweeper? Does he find it as annoying as you did?

[Twins' Mom]

Harrumphhh. I do feel better now that I've s2s-ed and put on makeup. First time with mascara in over a month, I think. We'll see how the old eyes tolerate it now that I'm staring at a computer screen for hours on end.

I'm going to sort some papers until time to take off. Dh wants me to locate his HSA card, which he never activated this year.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

My Ta-Da's

- Quicken purchases updated
- bills paid
- Most of the kitchen table is visible
- church calendar is updated
- purged 75 emails from my in-box (which just got it back to 250 so really that's just treading water!)
- loaned a monitor to my bosom buddy since hers broke today. She sent her dh and phoned after to thank me because she had no idea how addicted she was until her computer screen didn't work this morning.

I'm going to keep working on the kitchen table.

For Christmas ds gave me two linen finish photos of our summer beach, blown up to large size (18 x 24 and 18 x 12) and, until they are framed, I have them between the plexiglass and the table top of the kitchen table. So covering my table is not productive since I'm covering up these lovely pictures.

[Nancy]

Harriet I think you can just knock on the door saying your are "nurse Harriet" and check on things as needed.

Lunch was great dish washer has been re-booted.

Back from a store run had to get a few things. dgd helped make some mini muffins we were out of the good kinds of muffin mix they are great for their after school snack we did apple cinnamon ones this time. The house smells wonderful btw!

They are working on the pipes/lines underground up the street so we had to move the car out and park across the street, it was a pain taking dgd coats and food in multiple trips to get stuff unloaded from the car making me appreciate not having to do that all the time!

I've picked up the toys in the back yard by the play house.
Picked up the table a bit.
Snack time is over now.
dgkids may be here through dinner this evening so I have a tentive plan for their dinner.
Now I need one for ours!

They are still doing work up the street.

[lucylee]

Yard work done -- ta-da!

Harmony -- I don't know how ds is "enjoying" the K irby. * sigh * They may not use it enough to care one way or the other. But I bet when the baby arrives, or at least, when the baby starts crawling -- THEN they will become VERY aware of the dog shedding, don't you suppose?

I have to admit, I am a little bit in agreement that the K irby has more suction power than the E lectrolux.
HOWEVER, the aggravation of it is just not worth it. We will just have to live with whatever dust the E lectrolux leaves behind.

Heading to the shower.

[BookSaver]

Hello, villagers ~

Not much to Ta-Da! here. It's another day of storms so I've had the computer shut down most of the day.

I did get myself together enough this afternoon to fix my hair, put on make-up, and drive to The Big City for groceries.

I splurged 99 cents on a new lipstick. I've been wearing the same colors for a few years and this is a brand I've never tried. Hopefully I won't be allergic to anything in it.

I know how I want to rearrange the kitchen. Now it's just down to the tedious part of doing it. That's my goal for the next few days.

I also have all of the ingredients to make dry laundry soap. I ended up buying a vegetable peeler with a nice ergonomic handle instead of a box cheese grater for shredding the bar of soap. Much less expensive, smaller to store, and it came with a cover for safer storage.

So the plan is to make a small batch of the detergent to try on sheets & towels. If it works with our hard water, it will save a lot of money. I already throw in 1/2 cup of baking soda in every load and will continue to do so. The biggest issue I think will be that I've been using liquid detergent, but would rather avoid the extra work of having to "cook" the homemade liquid version.

This dry detergent recipe is also supposed to be good for front-loading machines. The washer is making some odd noises again and if/when it goes, we'll probably replace it with a front-loader.

Say, does anyone know of a good site for identifying cut glass dishes? I found a darling little set at Goodwill -- creamer, sugar bowl with lid, and a third bowl that I'm guessing is for honey or jam? on a matching shaped tray with 2 teeny tiny spoons. I know it isn't a valuable set because the spoons are not real silver and there are a couple little chips in the top edge of one of the bowls. I'm just curious about how old it is. For $3.88 I figure if nothing else, it will make a pretty centerpiece with a teapot and flowers -- if I can ever get the dining room table cleared off.

[Elizabeth]

I am headed out to eat then to art class. I have not been in 2 weeks, I hope I can remember what I was doing! (I had meetings the last two Thursdays).