Recoup the rest of the Year - Wednesday

[Twins' Mom]

It feels kind of amazing that we still have a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday left to go this week. Next week we start a whole new year, so let's use these days to wrap up 2012 and mentally get ready for a new start next week.

What's on your mind to finish up this year? Time is running short, so make the most of it!

[Twins' Mom]

Well, the first thing I have to do is to finish the bulletin article that I was determined to finish on Monday a.m. Then I realized that it wouldn't have to be printed until today, so now, I still need to finish it.

I am going to visit dsis today with a present also. A very long drive and long day. The only other "must do" is to buy dog food - may ask dd to do that while I'm out today.

What else do I need to finish up this year? I have a ton of paperwork in this house - and I'd like to get the paper work that is sitting around purged and filed.

For right now, must open Word and get going.....

[OKay]

Good Morning!

Happy Birthday wishes to Norma!

I am up and on schedule so far this morning. Not sure how the day will play out. There are couple factors that will influence it. -
** MPB remains closed so DH will be home the majority of the day.
** LO parents said they would come visit him today. We are still following legal instruction to only meet with them in public places so that means a trip to town if they do show up.

Otherwise I'm going to stay on schedule as much as possible. I know it helps me be highly productive.

[scattered]

Twins - Good luck with the article, and safe driving.

OKay - I hope you have a great day, sending you {{{Strength}}} for the possibility of a visit.

I'm up and d2s, working on my coffee. Need to get a move on it as I have to work today and it is raining with sleet so I need to make sure I leave nlt 8:00. Still need to make my lunch, fill my coffee cups, put on a little make-up and get out the door.

Today, I need to get the refinance paperwork out, stop by the library on my way home because my library card has expired so I can't check-out books for my Kindle. I need to get the house clean, it is a mess after two weeks of non-stop sewing. Ugh 20 minutes to get out the door, time to get a move on it.

ToDo/TaDa's
d2s
Coffee
make-up
pack lunch & coffee
work
library
dinner
1 lol in Bert & Ernie
15 min groove in LR

Have a great day Villagers!

[DeeClutter]

I'm up and s2s, meds taken, bed made. That's it. Didn't get up till nearly 8a.m. DD and gd are still in bed. I need to get breakfast next and coffee. Not sure there is coffee left -that's #1 priority on the shopping list today.

DH & DsonIL went to L owes and breakfast -oh here they are! DH bought a whole box of solar lights for the drive this summer during "Christmas in July". I reminded him we probably won't even be there that day -it should be the day of my class reunion. The day before the reunion is our anniversary and we plan to go to Lancaster, PA to see "Noah" at the Sight & Sound Theater.

Off to get some breakfast and COFFEE!

[Twins' Mom]

I am going to aim to leave around 10:30 - that is a little less than two hours away. Need to do as much as possible of a.m. routine before leaving and also....
-call vet to get more Tramadol for dMacs,must pick up later
-take out garbage
-walk ddogs
-note for dd re: dog food
-wrap up present for dsis
-email to attorney re: guardianship
-what else?

The wind is howling again today - I have located a draft at the bottom of door from bkfast area to porch that will need to be remedied.

I suspect we'll go with pizza for supper tonight. I think that ds' friend Z will be here today and overnight.

-take out garbage
-wrap gift
-email attorney
-fold two lols, reboot laundry
-note for dd

[OKay]

CI -
** 30 minutes focus - MPB daily gross processed (am still several days behind)
** 1 hour kitchen focus - birthday cake put into portion size containers, breakfast made, Mexican casserole ingredients prep'd, counters cleared & dishes done


LO is up and already asked to go outside and play in the snow. I checked and it is -9 wind chill so that will need to wait until it warms up a bit. He is enjoying waking up without an alarm and generally just being a slug. He is snuggled and watching TV (which will last for maybe 10 minutes). I haven't put his morning cards out for him to do.

[Lilac]

Last night just after 7, dd2 called and dgd16 was feeling bad again. They sent them home with 1 dose of Miralax and dgd16 had thrown it up. Dd2 was on her way to town to get something. W algrens had closed at 7 and none of the convenient stores that were open had anything like that. TMI, but I don't know why they didn't give her an enema at the hospital.

Warning, craziness ahead. Read at your own risk!

We went ahead and ate, because dd2 didn't know how soon they could come. Dd2 told Dd1 on the phone that they had to come because I had the good gifts. Dgs8 wanted the Madden NFL 13 game and I had bought it for him. He didn't get one at his dads and didn't get one at her house and was mad. I don't know why she didn't tell him that I had one for him and to just wait. Dd2 found out what happens when you spoil your kids. All the kids had the same amount of gifts at her house, but she had spent a lot more on the boys. When those ungrateful, spoiled brats (the boys) were done opening gifts, they asked her if that was all. It really upset her that they acted that way and she was left wondering why she bothers. She overcompensates because she only has them half the time. Their dad is obnoxious and it is really rubbing off on the boys. Her exdh would not go to church with them while they were married. Now him and his wife are all about church. Can we say hypocrites? They have all these rules and restrictions about what they can watch on TV, etc. I don't know why, because when the kids see them act the way they do, it erases anything they learn at church. An example, their stepmother is a kindergarten teacher. She makes fun of her students at home. Their dad makes fun of everybody, everywhere.

Just ahead of 8, dd2 shows up with the 2 boys and the 2 little girls. Her dh stayed home with dgd16. Since dd2 had missed the meal at his moms, he didn't want her to miss mine too. The boys are picky eaters and they didn't want to eat, they wanted to open gifts! I finally told her, why let them waste food they would not eat. So she fixed plates for her and the 2 girls. As soon as they were done eating, she fixed her dh a plate and we got the food put away, so they could open gifts.
Of the 6 gifts that I gave dgs8, he only liked 2 of them. Dgs7 liked most of his. The little girls had 8 gifts each and they loved everything. I spend the same amount on everybody, child or adult. The adults each had 1 gift and the rest money. The teenagers had 2-4 gifts and the rest money. The younger ones had all gifts. Dd2 and I had already had a discussion on the amount of gifts the kids had. She didn't like it that the boys had less gifts than the girls and wanted me to combine gifts when I wrapped to make it even. I refused! Those boys have gifts from their dad and their stepgrandparents, plus what they get at her house and mine. The little girls have what they get at her house and mine, so I decided to not cater to those boys and if they said anything, I would explain my reasoning. As soon as the gifts were opened we had dessert and I was hoping they would leave. The kids were just running wild, loud, fighting, etc. She just doesn't seem to notice but if you get on to them too many times, she gets irritated. By the time they left, I was ready to scream. Dh had escaped to the garage and I went and told him that I wonder why even bother. If her dh would have been here, he would have helped keep to the chaos down to a more manageable level.

Dd1 called after she got home and gave me her take on the situation. She said she is going to keep her distance from the boys, because she can not stand to be around them. I can handle them away from my home a lot better than I can handle them here.

As they were leaving dgs8 was acting like he had got nothing for Christmas. They were at the door and I informed them that dd1 and her dd16 had bought gifts on Christmas eve for 2 little kids, that they and their mother had just moved to town and she had no gifts for them. Dgd16 had heard about her thru facebook. I wanted those boys to know that they have way too much and don't appreciate any of it.

Which brings me to the next subject. Dd2s in-laws are very wealthy. Her dmil came from a wealthy family but her and her dh built their farming empire on their own. Before dd2 met her dh, the parents had supposedly divided up their wealth among all the kids. They have an extremely large Catholic family. They must have still kept a chunk. For the last 2 Christmases her in-laws have given each grandchild and they have 40+, $500.00 each. They also give that same amount to the spouses of the grandkids and to their growing amount of great grandkids. Then they give each couple of their own children, $5000.00. Her in-laws give to any step-grandchildren, the same amount as the others because they consider them "theirs, too." Which I really appreciate. Just for the heck of it, I done a rough estimate of how much they gave and I came up with $99,000.00. There is more than that because there is 1 of the sisters that for the life of me I can't remember.
But anyway that is quite a tidy sum of money to give out as Christmas gifts. I finally thought of the other sister and her family adds $7500.00 to total. I can't imagine having that much money and that many people to give it to for Christmas.

The boys were all bent out of shape that we weren't doing stocking stuffers. My dm is coming the 29th, so we decided to wait and do our stocking stuffers with her, like we have always done when her and dstepdad came. The 2 boys do not like my mom at all because she flat speaks her mind where they are concerned.
Before last night I had intended to do another dinner and to do stockings. Now I do not want to go thru this again anytime soon. So I don't know what I am going to do to avoid it.

I have a ton of food left. I am going to have dd1 bring over containers and help her self to anything she wants. Dd2 lets a lot of food go to waste and I am not going to offer her any.

Yikes, I would just erase all this but I needed to get it off my chest. Plus, I spent a bunch of time on it. If you have read this far, thanks for taking the time.

[BookSaver]

Good morning, villagers ~

DH is home the rest of the week on vacation. I will be able to get partway back to normal schedule, but not totally.

It helps that the trash and recycle bins need to go to the curb tonight. That sort of re-sets my body clock for the week. Yesterday afternoon I woke up from a nap worried that I'd forgotten to do the trash, and was so relieved when I realized that it was still just Tuesday and plenty of time.

I checked the receipt for the library book and movies, and they aren't due until tomorrow. Knowing that the library staff has had several days off and will need to dig out from under a mountain of returns today, I'm going to wait until tomorrow to take mine back.

I need to check FB today to see if any family members have put up photos from the holiday parties.

Kathryn ~ I'm so sorry the candle in a coffee cup idea turned into such a disaster!

[Twins' Mom]

Done with that round, also called vet for dMacs meds, which will be picked up later.

Next round....
-walk dogs
-review form for dsis to sign for me
-s2s
-as much of a.m. routine as can do before leaving