Happy Anniversary Thursday

[lucylee]

Happy anniversary to Mr. & Mrs. Dee! Sounds like y'all have a great, and well-deserved, get-away planned! Have fun!

WTG, Kathryn & Ken!

Oh -- and WTG, HRH, for saving Harriet & the girls from the snake!!!

Bon voyage to Cowinkie & Sadie... and someone else, and I can't find the post now...

(((cats)))

Waving to Indiana... Nancy... Sunny... BookSaver... MT... Twins... Harmony... and all who may arrive later!

MT -- more pictures, please! I missed the puppies the first time around!

I had a full morning, w/the allergy shot & the ob-gyn appt, but I guess everything turned out all right. Of course, you never really know till after lab report comes back, but apparently, I have a good report from doctor. He is not so talkative as his ddad, as far as telling you what's good/what's bad. I'm kinda glad he doesn't fuss about my weight... but otoh, his dad would always tell me I needed to lose a few pounds, but then he'd really brag about something else, seems like, and make me feel like I was taking good care of myself otherwise. Oh well... all doctors can't be Marcus Welby, right?

Dgbaby got a good report from his doctor, too, and now weighs 8 pounds 9 ounces, and has gained 1/2 an inch in length.
Surprisingly, to us, doctor says probably no solid food until at least 4 MONTHS??? Good gracious. Ds said she said they now look for strong control of neck muscles, turning head, etc, before introducing solid foods/cereals, even, to reduce risk of aspiration. Has anyone ever heard of this?
Editing to say -- Apparently that is the norm now -- according to quick internet search. When ds was a baby, I believe the pediatrician let us start giving him cereal and/or banana at 2 months! Times change... but oh my goodness... dmil is already getting impatient for them "to start feeding that baby."

We have a very busy two days ahead of us... and then we'll be gone again next week, T-Th. Then one full week free & THEN... back to school. * sigh * Yeah... I think I'm beginning to be ready for retirement. Still don't know whether I'll try to schedule a mammogram or not. I suspect I cannot get one before school starts. Confirmed today that yes, it has been 5 years since I had one. Doctor didn't even fuss about that. Maybe he just doesn't pay attention. That is ddil's opinion, actually.

[Twins' Mom]

Lucylee, it's already feeling like the end of summer. DD comes home next week and I need to start working again (like I haven't been working all summer?) Ds starts classes on Aug 20 and dd on Aug 22.

Just took ddogs out for a potty break in our yard, and the neighbor was out with his two ddogs. And my two barked and carried on, but did not cross the invisible fence. I hurried them on inside so the other dogs wouldn't be temped (one was off leash) but that is excellent progress for my boys.

Between getting a pedicure yesterday and bodywork today, I am almost feeling human again. She also reminded me that flip flops really aren't good for the feet, especially when worn almost all the time.

[Harriet]

I decided to pull a box out to go through, so one box led to another and so on.....

Sunny, that's the best kind of a declutter, when you didn't realize you were going to do so much, you were just "in the groove".

sherinjoy, I hope you and dh have a great trip.

lucylee, at your age, every 5 years is enough, isn't it? According to guidelines now?

It's funny, I think of flip-flop type shoes as fine for out-in-the-world wear in summertime, Twins Mom, but around the house I get frustrated with dd for wearing them, because she is forever hurting a foot one way or another. Also, she uses them as an excuse for why she can't do the outdoor chores. Right now she is wearing them because she hurt her foot - while wearing them! - and so now they feel better than shoes.

Because my own serious lace-up shoes sprang a leak against all the rains/dew we've been having, I was wearing flats indoors today with regular socks. I guess the combination was too tight, because while cleaning the bathroom I went into a foot cramp so am sitting here to relax.

I'm trying to convince HRH some of the bathroom vanity clutter is his, but he can't believe it. He picked up a few things and said, "there". There what? I'm so tired of having to clean surfaces in there by turns! Part of the problem is that we are storing so much there since we can no longer keep anything in the front bath. Can't efficiently hang any drip-dries there either, though I still try. At this moment for instance, that door has been closed to us for 2.5 hours and if we didn't hear movement we would be worried. Supper table set and waiting.

[lucylee]

Oh, thank you, Harriet! That makes me feel better! I still may not get one before this year is out, but at least I don't feel quite so guilty about it.

SHER -- yes -- bon yoyage to you & your dh, too! (That's who I was trying to think of!)

Flip flops bother me if I wear them too much. I wore them today b/c they're so much easier to take off @ doctor's office, etc... but I would never wear them if I were going to the mall or anywhere I'd have to walk much -- indoors OR outdoors. For example, I won't wear them next week to the Braves games. I also don't like to wear them when I'm out in grass/etc, b/c sometimes ANTS get on my feet! So they are mostly what I wear if tennis shoes just won't do at all, and my regular, comfortable, "old lady" shoes look too heavy for summer clothes. My feet get cold easily, too -- even when it is 100 degrees outside.

I have spent my time since last post transferring gbaby pictures from camera to computer, so I can get them developed @ Wmart soon. I got to thinking, you know, I wonder how many pictures ddil/ds will actually have to SHOW dgson when he's older? All their pictures are on FB and iPhone, etc... but how LASTING is that??? So there is definitely (IMHO) a reason/need to take & print real, actual paper pictures... even if the young people today are moving into a paperless society.
Also -- allergy nurse was "disappointed" with me -- I had no pictures to show that were taken after dgson's first day!

[Elizabeth]

A late hello to my virtual friends! It is 5:14 here and I should be leaving but I am waiting on a call from a friend who is down from Indiana. We are going to dinner. Unfortunately, she was here for her father's funeral. Don't know when I will get a call back. Tonight is normally art class night, but I am not going. First because of the dinner and second because I have stuff to do for camping this weekend. I lead an interesting life: Baltic Sea last two weeks and immediately thereafter camping. I also have to pay some bills (yuck), get groceries for camping, and clean up the LR of DD10's stuffed animals and boxes. I did finally clean up the glass from the light globe. DD told me my house is falling apart. On the plus side, she wants to sleep with me in the tent instead of with XDH in the camper. XDH is bringing DD's food and clothes. I wish my friends would call soon. I really need to get moving. Until then, I will be producing a code sample.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm sleepy and sore but I'm home!

That was a whirlwind trip - can't believe we did it. Dh is still amazed that it is so 'painless' to get to Boston. Well, technically we were an hour away from Boston, and given how sore I am, painless isn't quite the right term but it certainly doesn't feel like it should be that simple.

We came home through the Adirondack park but with the heavy cloud and mist, didn't see much. Still it felt a lot shorter than driving along the top of NY. Perhaps that's because I was driving. The ferry was fun. And on the NY side there was a Stewarts and they have very good ice cream so that became our lunch break spot. I'd already eaten my salad and cheese in the car, and walked back and forth the whole time on the ferry so we just had our ice cream and then headed off, 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

Then, because it was raining, we didn't spend long eating our dinner (we were eating in the car, parked, but not with a view of the Seaway because of the steam from our fish and chips.) So we are home 50 minutes earlier than the trip planning software said.

We didn't leave Concord until 11:15 (planned) and enjoyed a greasy spoon breakfast and then I checked out a consignment store and got another hat for church. At $12 I loved it. At $4.80 which is what it really cost but I didn't realize that until after she gave me 3 $5 bills change for my $20, I felt like I had stolen the hat!

Concord seems to be full of aging yuppies, to the point it becomes a cliche. On the other hand, I suppose dh and I are 'among our own kind.' We listen to NPR, we like small town living, I shop used and local as much as possible, we drive a Prius, we have made our house extremely energy efficient and we are well off financially. Our car was happy, it was parked next to another Prius every time we parked anywhere. (Actually, our car was 'home', it came from a New Hampshire dealer originally.)

The city is tiny and peaceful (at least on the surface, I'm sure there are politics that divide there) and everyone seems fit and happy. People are very welcoming to visitors but we also witness them being very friendly and kind to each other on the street and in stores.

I think we'll be going back to Concord at some point. Preferably after allergy season - I was gasping again on my walk to breakfast and had to dial back the treadmill when I worked out inside this morning.

[Harriet]

Are yuppies aging? I just got used to the idea of Old Hippies!

Great deal on a hat, Kathryn. Wish someone at our church would wear a hat, but I can't even find others wearing skirts or dresses much. Glad you are home safe. We have lots of village trips, coming and going.

Speaking of which, have fun camping, Elizabeth.

I finished up the bathroom and also had done a workout earlier today and felt great, no problems. But this evening I vacuumed, and although I realized I had really done a lot I had no idea it was too much. My back was hurting as I finished. I ended up having to take a pain pill late, and of course needed food "under" the pill to spare my stomach, and of course shouldn't go to bed too soon after I eat. So, life gets tedious, don't it? HRH has stayed up with me and watched silly television.

And it's not like it's a big day tomorrow or anything. Just dd32's family coming in, that's all! I only have, oh, 12 hours worth of things to do in 8 hours!