U.S. Election Day Tuesday

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

OKay, if you recall, I just recently learned where your state is, having thought you were farther west than you were! (But that sure helped tonight because I was confident about that one!)

I'm now pushing away from the computer. Was playing cards. Dh is on his now weekly Tuesday night call. (It has been Monday night for years but he moved it because of choir practice.)

[helia]

I'm really craving chocolate. I think it is safe to say that I am not on WW program today. Or this week. I am now drinking hot chocolate.

Dd17's friend did not come over this evening after all; she still had hw to do. Dd14 is finishing her hw. I think dd17 is done with hers. I am doing another lol. I also called earlier re: a florist bill and took care of that. I thought I had given them a cc# when I first called them, but apparently I had not.

I'm also working on my book club book, East of Eden. I also enjoyed photos put on fb by dbil of his and dsil's wedding this summer. Looking at the photos made me wish I had gone.

Glad the appt. went well, OK and he confirmed your decision re: biopsy. I just see my GP for ob/gyn stuff, but I really need to change that - b/c my GP happens to also be a neighbor, and I'd rather my sparkly washcloth doctor be a bit more anonymous. In fact, my GP was out walking his dog today while I was trimming my hedge, and he let his dog come onto our yard to play with Pepper, as is their habit. Pepper and his dog are buds, apparently. We chatted briefly; he is very nice, a bit older than me which I like. Maybe I could keep him as my GP and just add another Dr.. .. .I'd need to talk to insurance about that. Another DPC. . .

Thinking of LO and his upcoming surgery too, OK. His blood draw sounded traumatic for everyone. ((HUGS))

I'm impressed too, Kathryn. I wouldn't do well finding the Canadian provinces and there aren't that many compared to our 50 states. I know Ontario since it is next door to us -- and Quebec b/c I went skiing there once. And when dh and I lived in NY, we vacationed in Nova Scotia and another province by Nova Scotia. . . NW territories are very large and in the north - maybe I could find that on a map. And I have friends who went to school (Regent College -- I wish it were closer; I'd love to go to seminary there) in Vancouver, British Columbia. I've heard Vancouver is a great city! Anyhow, that's about all my knowledge of Candian provinces.

I think Bert and Ernie need tending. I like those names too.

[OKay]

Oh no........ LO started complaining about his stomach hurting....and then his fever just spiked. I just finished txt'ing his counselor and cancelled his appt with her in the morning. Hope. Hope. Hope this is just a bug and passes quickly and won't cause them to cancel/postpone his surgery. Either way, I suspect it is going to be a looong night while I monitor his fever.

[Ivy]

On my PODA I said I'd feed Bert & Ernie, and Ernie's drying the last load. I worked on a story and read on "The Writer's Digest" magazine. I decided to decorate envelopes another day, and this evening, after dinner, I'll buckle down to crochet the afghan while watching election returns. So the only thing I didn't do was decorating envelopes.

But in the NOW "craft room", which is our spare room, I set up the card table, rearranged craft things in there, for making cards, bookmarks, and scrap booking. It looks better in there now and less of a cluttered mess, although there is still clutter. Craft supplies, to me, are "Organized Clutter" when you're in the middle of making things. I think as we craft or sew, we can pick up after ourselves, so when we end the job for the day, putting things to bed/away, is easier and it makes the room more inviting for the next day.

Helia, I'M craving chocolate, TOO! But I have stitches in my pallet and need to eat soft or liquid foods. So chocolate could get in the incision or little "hole" where the sample used to be. DH has mini Reece's PB cups in a bowl on the eating bar and a container of jumbo muffins. It won't be much longer before I can have things like that, but I'll need to remember to not go "crazy" going overboard to make up for lost time.

Sorry that DD17's friend didn't come over.

Is East of Eden good?

OKay, Glad the appt. went well, too. Good luck on the biopsy when it comes time to do that. Oh, NO! LO sounds really sick! I'll pray for his health and the surgery date. This timing is all wrong. Poor LO! I'll say a prayer for LO.

Sorry LO has surgery coming up, too. Blood draws are not fun.

Kathryn, I'm glad you got a nap. You have an electoral map or regular map and then guess which one is what with the red or blue states? I'd never be able to state all of Canada's Provinces!

Emptynester, I'm almost a hoarder, too. I got all motivated by you, this evening, so organized my new craft room. It used to be my "Bunny Room" because of my bunny collection being in there, but it's a craft room now! I need to dink around with the craft dresser, see if I can re-organize it and make my new craft room more orderly.

Blessedw2, It's nice to have 3 clean toilets. I get into the CHAO syndrome, from time to time, too. More times than less. I have crochet, reading and writing stuff out to remind me to get to them, which I do, too, but I think if 2 neighbors, especially, who have a magazine cover home, came in, I'd panic. Whenever either of them see my craft room, they go home, I'm embarrassed and clean up my act and it stays nice for awhile. I guess keeping up with the Joneses can be motivating.

Will think through my PODA for tomorrow, tonight. Might get out another Apron Day uniform. Seems to motivate me.

Dee, How did your trip go down to FL and didn't you go to a show in PA or a play? How did it go? Did you enjoy it? Hope so! Hope the chili was good today, too.

Have a great night, Everybody!

[scattered]

YA!!! I ended up not having to work a 16 hr shift!!!

Ivy - "feeding Bert & Ernie" you are too funny. Now we need to come up with a name for the Fridge/Freezer and maybe one for the Deep Freezer too.

Got home around 9pm and have been checking the results... way to close to call!!! I was up and out by 6am to vote and still ended up being about 20 minutes late, thankfully the RN I was relieving had no problem staying late for me.

Torn between staying up to see more results and going to bed... will at least wait for DS19 to get home from work, snet him a text asking for dessert.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Ivy: Would hot chocolate or chocolate ice cream help the craving?

As for my map - the one I filled in was from the newspaper which was really just trying to explain electoral vote numbers compared to popular vote numbers and it was free of state labels unlike most electoral vote maps I study each day (which probably helps my numbers, plus the fact that I've been to 21 of the 50 states.) You have to remember I'm the daughter of a naval navigator so have grown up with maps as a huge part of my life.

For election coverage, I've been hanging at electoral-votedotcom for the past 8 years. Added Nate Silver's blog to my daily reading this year. Right now, I have the last electoral vote prediction map up in one browser and the UK Guardian's election page up with the current map being updated as results come in so I can see how things are going compared to the best guess as of this morning.

No only am I a map junkie but I'm also a political junkie so US elections combine two of my addictions! I think the idea of electoral college is probably as bad or even worse than our parliamentary system where only a few thousand voters in one district can vote directly for the Prime Minister - the rest of us vote for a local MP (member of parliament) the equivalent of your Congressperson, and the leader of the party with the most MPs become PM (prime minister.) But the electoral college feeds my addiction very nicely so I suppose I shouldn't complain.

Scattered: I'd vote for Goldie for Fridge/freezer partly because I'm from the age when most of us had Harvest Gold appliances. But if I gave it more thought I'd probably come up with something better.

[Sunny]

Hi everyone. We were up early this morning. Dh had an INR appointment. We got there about 20 min. early, but still had to wait until almost appt. time. He was pleased with the 2.4 reading - right where it is supposed to be!

After that we came back to our neighborhood voting place and were in and out within 15 minutes. Worker I talked to said they were lines at opening, but since then it had just been steady. I think there were 10 - 12 "booths" (small stand up tables with high sides). We used paper ballots and marked the little oval with black pen. At the end we scanned the ballot into machine. Our ballots were two long sheets printed on both sides each; there were 11 amendments to vote on. The sample ballot in the mail had more amendments that concerned other communities around us, so weren't on ours. I am so glad that it will be over soon. All the automated phone calls (that hang up when answer machine kicks on) and over-sized post cards in the mail will stop!

Some quick thoughts:

Dee.... I'm glad you are getting settled in again.
MT.... Looked like a good craft sale. I have to say that at the church craft sale we went to last month I bought myself an apron of the same pattern in your picture - just different colors! Loved the wall hanging you picked out.
Nancy.... So sorry you're not feeling well. Hope it doesn't last.
Harmony.... I trying to remember about your reference to babysitting sick children?
Harriet.... Some people just don't think straight do they?
OKay.... Sending good thoughts your way for your tests and LO's procedure!
Ivy.... WTG on your good news!
Kathryn.... WTG on naming all the states. There's a program on one of our channels on the weekends, I think, called How The States Got Their Shapes. Gives all kinds of facts and history on how our country was settled.

I looked at a list of all the polling places in our county and no schools were listed. Most were churches, the others were all neighborhood civic associations, city rec centers etc.

I like the names Bert & Ernie. How about Hazel for the Fridge/Freezer? Do you remember that program? Or Aunt Bea from Andy Griffith Show?

Saying hello to Everyone.

[lucylee]

Just waving to everyone... watching election returns... kinda nervous...
Local elections have been a mixed bag as far as whether or not my candidates won...
I'm just tired... and afraid I'm going to be really depressed in the morning.

We went out to eat @ local steakhouse w/ds, ddil, and dgs. No more mention of christening, thank you notes, etc.
Just had a nice time (except ddil is sick of political talk, and dh & ds are real political junkies. Dddil said ds had just been "giddy" all day, LOL! Ds said, "I can't help it; I love election day!")
They have appt w/new doctor @ 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, and people are practically coming out of the woodwork to tell them how much they love this doctor! I hope they will be happy.

[Harmony]

Sunny, remember where we grew up, the lady across the street and you babysat their kid but she kept bringing him over sick? Many many years ago. Your DS1 was a baby himself, if I recall.

Oh, well, up way too late. Slept a good bit this afternoon. Lot of nerve-making things going on. Big church meeting coming up and DH has been on the phone about it all. I tend to hide so I don't hear it ...as I know it's a big can of worms to open, and I'm so happy with the service I'm doing there, though I don't agree with what the church has been doing...still, someone has to do the nice things like make people's meals, fix the communion, etc., sigh....

And I shouldn't have stayed up and watched all the news half the night. I just keep thinking I so wish we had more years to prepare before retirement.