SO MUCH TO DO SATURDAY

[Twins' Mom]

Kathryn, dh is ......? Back asleep?

DD and I saw The Hobbit - very enjoyable time with dd. As a movie, I liked Lincoln much better but it was nice to connect with dd, and I had the added bonus of remembering that I read The Hobbit aloud to dkids before they could have read it. We decided on a stir fry for dinner and went through the grocery, and I also stopped and picked up the cash cards for my dmom for a royal $7.65 total.

Back home, dh is watching loud TV; he did get the new rug under our bed. It's not exactly placed as I envisioned, but I can live with it for now. Just noticed he's asleep in front of TV so I turned it down, LOL.

Bookie, do you make "real" fudge with a candy thermometer or is it the Eagle Brand milk kind? I've always been intimated by the candy thermometer business.

Yes, Dove, all the movie previews today were very violent end of the world type movies. Not a romantic comedy among them, or even Les Miserables, which I think opens as a movie on Christmas Day. DH and I have seen it staged twice, once in NY and once as a traveling show.

Helia and Kathryn, we also go through a lot of clementines this time of the year.

I'm going to read in a chair for awhile, now that the TV is turned down.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Cut myself off in that last post!

Dh went back to bed around 1p.m. and just got up again. The house is looking magical right now because all the lights are on plus I have a ton of tealights (both real and battery) lit. Oh, and except for the dining room table, it is very neat and tidy and slipshod cleaned.

He's reading his comics right now and sipping water (with a bucket by his side.) He has had only 2 oz of anything since bedtime last night. Thankfully, I have tons of saltines for him when he's ready to try something solid.

I'm working at the dining room table, having finished mopping the floors.

I guess I'll work at handling one piece of paper at a time, either filing it where I can find it again, or dealing with it now.

[Nancy]

Hang heat lamp h. did that and had a better idea of where to put it so glad I waited for his help! I loaded two wagons of fire wood and unloaded them plus I unload 2 wheel burrows of of fire wood great exercise. We moved the fire pit.
Bil is coming for Christmas so Christmas Eve will need to clean up around here!
H. grilled burgers & sausage dogs for lunch yummy!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Well that didn't last - he was up for about 20 minutes before heading back up to be sick again.

After he was done, I settled him back into bed with lots of pillows and his laptop so he could finish reading his comics up there. Instead he's watching tv. He has a bell so if he needs me he can ring.

I cleaned the bathrooms after he was sick. I felt a bit bad because they should have been done yesterday but on the bright side, he didn't mess up a clean bathroom. Yet.

There's a load of laundry going too. And there will be more to do when he gets better since he took 'my' terry robe (it was his, he never uses it so I loaned it to ds when he was sick and then grabbed it as my own since mine was at least 15 years old and really ratty. I've tossed mine out and been using his ever since so will have to go back to my silk ones since he's taken the terry one.) He's also been using one of my pillows so I'll have to put a clean case on it before I can use it myself.

My tummy is queasy right now. Don't know if it is the idea of this, or if I'm getting sick.

[BookSaver]

DH was in the mood for a drive, so we did end up going for lunch and groceries in The City. The rural highway was no problem, city streets are still a mess. It took longer than I had planned to spend shopping, but was very helpful in that he could pick out stuff that sounded good to him for lunches. He's taking the whole week off to burn up some vacation time.

I'm not quite sure what I'll do with him home all day every day for a week solid. He says he has no particular projects to do.

Kathryn ~ For your "straw" do you have a wicker basket you'd be willing to sacrifice/canibalize? Raffia ribbon to shred? Would broken spaghetti be too stiff for your craft?

Twins' Mom ~ I make the easiest ever no-fail fudge recipe with sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips. When I'm making it to give other people, I use the name brand milk and chocolate. I've tried it with store brands, and the result is not as smooth a texture.

I have made the old-fashioned fudge from scratch with cocoa, sugar, etc. but I've gotten so many compliments on the easy recipe that I no longer bother with the complicated one.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Booksaver: thanks for the ideas!

Basement is vacuumed. I'm just sitting down to dinner now.

Edited to add:

Finished dinner. Hope it wasn't a mistake. Pizza was on the meal plan and I found three leftover slices in the freezer so had those, rather than go out for fresh.

Now I need to flip the laundry and work on the Sunday School prep. I'll think positive and expect to be there tomorrow!

[Ivy]

Hello Villagers!

DH and I delivered gifts to our widow friend, 96-97, and later to friends/neighbors about 1/2 mile from our house. We had cookies she baked, 3, and I drank water. We stayed 1 hour until it was getting darker out, which is our Dkitty's time to eat. Now I need to wrap hats and put names on cards for gifts inside the cards. Will crochet for baby and slowly start cleaning, too. It was wonderful to see friends again and visit, laugh a lot, and enjoy each others' company. This is such a nice time of year.

DH will vacuum tomorrow, I'll dust mop, and DH wanted to take the pumice thing to the toilets because of water stains, from minerals from the well. I'll do laundry, will sweep and wash bathroom rugs, too.

DH will phone the pizza place to see if they're serving take-out pizza on Christmas Eve morning. If not, we'll need to run to the store for sandwich and salad things for lunch. Making due isn't too hard. We're all flexible anyway.

Oh, need to go call Ddil for her b-day. I told her in an email when we'd call. But I wanted to pop in to say hello here, to cuop and say hello to Everyone! Have a GR8 night and a nice Sunday, too. I need to get some things done this evening so everything's not falling on me on Sunday. Baby-steps is such a smart way of doing things, rather than to push and burn. And crash from exhaustion.

Have a nice evening, too.
BFN.

[OKay]

I survived!

***PHEW****

I gave DGS15 his first driving lesson today. After he almost hit a brick wall, DGS17 jumped out of the car and refused to ride if DGS15 was driving. So DGS17 stayed with his Great Grandmother while DGS15 got the initial driving kinks worked out. I taught our kids and DGS17 to drive when they were young, however DGS15 has always refused to drive. Today was a huge step for him.

My nerves of steel are a bit tired tonight.

[Lynlee]

Just quickly skimmed your busynesses in vullage.
Ohhh - nerves of steel OKay - hoping it goes well. I refused to teach/ accompany dd.1 after she wouldn't listen to me re going too fast for a corner and we ended up off the road. Luckly neither car and fence connected, and no one was on the footpath at the time.

Movies sound good. dd.1 is taking her kids tomorrow.

I have wrapped Northbound gifts.
Church this morning (gave a special hug to mother of school friend of dd.2. The friend and her dad were killed in a learner driver lesson gone wrong one hideously heavy rainy day.)

I need wrap for Southbound gifts
dsis is calling in for northbound ones later.
I have sunday afternoon at a friends house , friend doesn't get out. I wonder if it would be rude to show her Arthurs inspirational yoga journey. Heres hoping the cpac machine due at her house helps enough to make a difference - though I expect she will need to act the difference too if its to occur.

It would be a good idea I say to Lynlee - to clear off the table. Before dsis gets here.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Wow, there has been a lot accomplished in the village today. Cleaning, preparing but also connecting and enjoying the people who make holidays so worth celebrating.

I'm exhausted. The dining table is getting me down so I spent time updating Quicken and cleaning out my purse. Plus babysitting laundry. Unfortunately, none of that moves me closer to having the Sunday School lesson prepped. But it does move me closer to wanting to go to bed.

I went over my list for today and copied over the things I'll need to do tomorrow. It is still a daunting list. On the brighter side, since dh isn't doing a carol sing before the first church service, I don't have to be out of the house until 10:15, instead of 8:55.