Monday Attitude

[Cowinkie]

Just to prove my point....

I just told Sweetie what Norma's DH has been doing and how I refer to him as Mr. Guy. Sweetie started laughing and said that he has been addressing Norma's dh in his emails as Mr. Guy. Seems After that, Mr. Guy started signing his emails as MG to which Sweetie started referring to himself as MGF when emailing Mr. Guy. Mr. Guy was puzzled by Sweetie's signature and asked him what it stood for., to which Sweetie replied "why Mr. Guy's friend"..See what I mean?????

[OKay]

This morning DCousin tried to give DH a 5 gallon bucket full of squash he had just picked. DH turned down the offer . DCousin said he put up 140 ears of corn last week, gave away 100 ears of corn at church yesterday and that was just his field corn. His wife told him "NO MORE CORN!". However, his bigger patch of sweet corn should be ready to pick later this week. He said we need to clear our freezer out to make room for it. Not gonna happen! I'll take a few ears of sweet corn but not a freezer full. I'm thinking ......wonder what corn and/or squash chow-chow would taste like? hum....

[helia]

I'd be happy to take some fresh squash and sweet corn off your hands - but not a freezer full! The casserole sounds interesting OK. I've never made a casserole with squash.

That is great about Sweetie and Norma's dh.

Dh's BFF here is friend R, but I'm not sure if they're in contact every day or not.

Nice that Harriet's dd13 can be involved in helping to care for her dgrandpa.

Not getting much done; had coffee with dh, dealt with some online business, reclaimed the kitchen. contractor guy is here so I can't work in the bedroom, which is really where I need to work. . .

We are gray and had some light rain this morning, which i think we needed. It is not raining at the moment, however.

I'm meeting dh in 1:15 for a jog. I just made a cup of tea - maybe a little risky with an upcoming jog under 2 hours away - and I think I'll have some devo. time.

[OKay]

<skippable>
I just discovered a blunder I made last week. I ordered water sample containers thinking the only requirement was a certain size container, leak proof lid and most importantly to be certified STERILE. I couldn't locate water sample bottles so I ordered urine sample bottles......thinking they are both same size, wide mouth, empty, certified sterile....so they should work. NOPE. I missed knowing about one BIG requirement. the water sample bottles must each contain a little teeny-tiny BUT OH SO IMPORTANT tablet to remove any chlorine in the water. Once I knew what that tablet was (sodium thiosulfate), it was easy to find the bottles I should have ordered in the first place. Now to research if I can return the 100 sterile 4 oz bottles i bought last week.
</skippable

[Elizabeth]

I did not get Euros. Turns out I needed pounds for England, so I got them instead. Now I will be able to get around on the subway. I have also faxed some financial info and ordered refill meds. I am trying to make sure I have enough meds for my trip. I think that with this last order, I am good to go. I should do some payroll stuff too. After work, I think I will head home, pick up the toys in the LR then goto VBS, then water XDH's dog and get some dates off his calendar (birthdays and such). Then onto cat care, shower, and bed. I hope that is all I need to do!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Fresh corn please! (we have at least another 2 weeks and that's only if the corn is as early as everything else is this year - strawberries are almost 2 weeks early and most of the flowers are 4 weeks ahead of their blooming time.)

Cowinkie: You need to decide what will work for you. If you are doing carry-on only for the whole trip, you need to remember that European airline carry-on limits are smaller than US ones, often as small as 22x13x9 compared to 24x16x10 for US Air and as light as 23 lbs vs 40 lb for US airlines.

I'd recommend you decide if you will back pack, shoulder carry, or need wheels. I don't recommend back pack with wheels because of the extra weight of the wheels - they add about 3lbs. My carry-on is just a thin folding bag that weighs about a pound. Because it has no structure (sides, thick material, pockets, wheels, etc.) it can be stuffed easily under a seat or in the bin. This is important on a train where you want to keep your bag in sight almost at all times.

Here's an example (since mine is no longer made):

http://www.magellans.com/store/Luggage_ ... runksLB955

The downside is you have to carry it all the time because it doesn't have wheels. An ideal one would have backpack straps on it because with 12 - 15 lbs or more of stuff in it (the usual limit for carry-on weight is 20 lbs) it weighs heavy on the shoulder pretty fast.

Most of time I just have to get through airports with it. Once I make it to the luggage carousel, I pick up my wheeled suitcase and plop this on top. The exception was my trip to Atlanta where I managed to only travel with it and I did miss having wheels! I'd check out REI and see what they have since they might have something super-light with back pack straps.

If you have wheels, you have more limits (stairs are harder because the bag is heavier - 6lbs of bag is a super-light one and then your 12 - 15 lbs of stuff inside the bag.) On the other hand, there is less strain on your back (although there is still a strain pulling the dang thing.) As well, you have to decide if 2 or 4 wheels works better for you (I vote for 2 in Europe because cobblestones difficult with wheels.) You are looking for big wheels so the bag won't scrape on the uneven ground. Eagle Creek have excellent wheeled products and most of their lines have a great warranty too.

Invest in a locking strap

http://www.magellans.com/store/Luggage_ ... _TagsSL104

so you can lock your bags in place when you are napping on the train or eating in a restaurant. I've heard too many horror stories about bags being stolen right out from under one's chair as they ate in train stations. And a lock for the zipper as well. Neither will really protect you if you have light bag (the straps on your bag are easily cut) but they will make your bag a less desirable target.

[Twins' Mom]

Not what I expected but I was productive. Got letter to dd done, medical bill ready to go and my script from last week ready to go into the mail to Caremark. The guy who does our gutters called and wanted to know if he could come and I told him to come on over. (DH was supposed to call him anyway to clean the gutters.) So I ran on out to the post office and mailed those three items plus the package that needed to be returned, plus got cash so I could pay the gutter guy. (He only takes cash or must find someone to take his check and cash it. Doesn't have ID to cash a check) He found a very small snake in the gutter - says it is a copperhead but I'm not so sure.

This round:
-pay the gutter guy when he's finished
-bring down laundry
-reboot laundry
-start packing a box of fragile items from DR

[Twins' Mom]

I don't know whether any of my Facebook friends can see photo that I commented on a few minutes ago - it's the Israeli teen who stayed with us two summers ago, looking extremely handsome!

[Harriet]

I napped in the spot on our made bed that HRH vacated, as soon as he vacated it. I awakened after a couple hours, got up as HRH let me know ddad had slept the whole time I did. Went to the bathroom and while inside heard HRH telling my ddad that I would be there in a minute. Dd13 had half-awalened me at one point asking how to hang up her grandfather's pants to drip-dry, so, knowing she could handle the wash, I guess I really slept.

Listening to discussions of husbands having good friends is very nice, especially Norma and Cowinkie, since I take credit for that meeting. A little bit. HRH has so many nice friends he never gets to see any more. Insofar as my family situation has contributed to that, I am sincerely sorry.

We are at the point of having to go out on errands and HRH and I are taking turns offering to be the one who will stay with my ddad. Right now I think he has "won" since he is also fielding emails related to ds' family needs. So dd13 and I will try to get back before my ddad's suppertime.

[lucylee]

CI:
I walked my 3 miles this morning, in between rain showers, and after s2s, we went to Wmart.
That is the extent of my day. I also called my two aunts to thank them again for helping with everything yesterday.

I guess I'm just kinda exhausted from yesterday, since I didn't get my Sunday nap.

Oh -- and I have now seen Prometheus... but I have to say, neither dh nor I was very impressed. It's not a HORRIBLE movie... although two girls in the restroom afterwards seemed to think it was. One was saying: "I just can't believe how bad that movie was... and it just kept going on and on and on." It wasn't like that for me... it was just nothing special at all, and it sorta had that feel like, "Haven't we seen this before?" DH commented that it reminded him a lot of Alien.
I strongly advise you to seek out Bernie, instead... and don't spoil it for yourself by reading too much about it in advance!

(((Harriet))) w/ongoing eldercare issues.

(((OKay))) for excitement w/dmom & the gutters! Wow!

Oooohhhh... excitement in Twins' gutters, too!

Sooo exciting for Cowinkie... Venice... Wow, again!
And isn't it nice to have Kathryn & helia here to advise us about international travel! I'll probably never travel beyond the USA, but it's fun to do so vicariously with y'all!
And now Elizabeth, too! This is a very cosmopolitan group, isn't it? (I think that's the word I'm looking for, LOL!)

I need to get addresses together for ds/ddil's thank you notes... and I need to write some thank you notes for dmil -- we got those for flowers and food done quickly, but I have about a dozen I volunteered to do for memorials @ church.

Waving to all -- see y'all later!