TGI Friday!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

No progress here except to move to the dining room table so I can put my laptop to one side, hooked up with external monitor, keyboard and mouse. My laptop has a pointer between the G H & B keys that I use to move around the screen, and 'mouse' buttons under the space bar. So I'm not used to having to move my hands from the keyboard in order to move around a page on the internet.

As well, this keyboard doesn't have page forward and back keys like my laptop does so that is slowing me down too. And the touch on it is awful so my touch typing is slower.

On the plus side, the "S" key works and one uses the S key all the time (i.e. 10 times in this sentence!)

Off to find a better chair (this chair is too low for proper typing position at the keyboard.)

[blessedw2]

I will say hello to each of you as the day continues. dd younger is done with her finals! she is so tired and ready to chill. She is making her first cheese cake this afternoon for company. I haven't made one in 10 years at least. too many calories that my body won't burn off any more.

dd older goes back tomorrow or today... not sure what her and her friends are deciding.

goal: dailies a must, work on card file, add goal of photos and taking video's and making them dvds before d mom comes home.

cook dinner

[helia]

Finals for high schoolers start today, at least for those with a 7th hour class, which both my girls do have - although, dd17's 7th hour is an art independent study, so no final exam there. Dd14 has a test and an essay due for her 7th hour class (art!) today, but she was not too stressed about this beforehand. I think she had the essay done (or at least a significant portion of it done) early this week. The rest of finals will be next week. This does mean we will not ski on Monday but will head straight home as soon as we can get packed up and ready to go. I believe the girls will bring their books with them to study. ... . when, I'm not sure. In the car, at least.

Ooh, a homemade cheesecake, blessed! Yum!!

Glad the S key is working at least, Kathryn.

Progress! --I'm liking this day. The deadline is showing me that I CAN in fact get a lot done in a day, if I stay focused. It also helps that I've had a long continuous chunk of time at home rather than my time being chopped into bits. My time this afternoon will be more fragmented.

Congratulations to dd14 for another stellar semester, Harriet!! I'm sure she'll get an A in the engineering (the last class?) class.

Done:
x a.m. routine
x lunch
x lol folded and put away, last lol in the dryer
x banana bread made, baked, and cooling on racks
x banana bread mess cleaned up
x called in dd17's script; had a problem so I called again and the pharmacy said it will be refilled. I hope so; she needs the synthroid.
x called ds to touch base with him. I am now picking him up at 2 pm
x quick call from dd17. . . Yes, a lot of phone calls, apparently.
x started laying out items to be packed; the non-perishable food bags are started. I will get ice for the cooler while I'm out so I can pack up cold food items. Toiletries are laid out in the bathroom, clothes starting to accumulate on the bed.

Next:
-lay out my clothes
-ERRANDS: (I need to add to the list)
1. groc. store
3. Walgreens
4. gas station - gas the van and get ice
5. (drop ice off at home)
6. pick up ds @ 2
7. shop for ski pants
8. bank somewhere along the way for cash

A lot of errands but each should be short.

[Ivy]

GOOD TGI FRIDAY MORNING,VILLAGERS!

I've got a sore wrist from writing by the deadline, doing 4 letters by hand last night and using the stylus on the Nook. Will be using the computer less, as typing makes it more sore. So I won't be starting my crochet projects, as planned, today either.

Have a wonderful day, Everyone. If I'm MIA, don't worry. It's just the wrist. I have a wrist brace, but it's hard to keep from doing typos when I wear it.

[Dove]

Harriet, I sympathize with your dd finger pain when doing a lot of writing. For years I kept a bag of cotton balls in my desk at work & scotch taped one to my finger every morning to pad it. I've since discovered in office supply stores these little covers that slip over pens & pencils to cushion the finger. They work well & are on every pen I use!

I spent time with my dnieces & dnephews this week & really enjoyed that. Stayed with dmom & took the opportunity one day to see how her driving is. Only one issue was of concern; if she is fiddling with the temp controls or her visor her attention is completely off the road until she is done fiddling. Twice she ended up straddling the center line. I only said something once when the oncoming car got closer as I was hoping she would see it for herself & pull back into her lane.

My Zone 3 areas in this third week of the month are the attic & basement. Usually I focus on one or the other, & the temperature often dictates where you'll find me . This morning dh helped me clear an area in the basement near the donation table so we could move a dresser from the attic down to that spot. It fits well there & the drawers have added so much storage space, especially for all the electrical cords dh has. I used to keep fabric in the dresser but it was so hard to find & pull material out without messing up the entire drawer. Shelving will work better & my next task will be to put together two tall plastic cabinets I bought for the attic to store the fabric (that is now all over the attic table!).

Hope everyone has a wonderful day .

[ellyphant]

Kathryn--I do remember that our coldest days were the ones with the most sunshine! Our kitchen faced south with a big, picture window. I can imagine that your southfacing rooms are great today!

DH brought lunch home for us. He is taking a nap now--a luxury for him on a work day. He has this afternoon off since he worked a half day on New Years Day. No holiday for him on Monday, either.

We have leftover lasagna for supper tonight, so I'm having an easy day.

Completed and put away one lol. Took package to post office.

Happy holiday weekend for those who get the Monday holiday!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Productivity is definitely missing today.

I'm still trying to get through the task of putting away the Christmas cards. I've gone through the ones that came too late to be put up and noted 'card received' on my paper copy of the address list (still need to update the online copy. I've finally read all the Christmas letters (I always wait until after Christmas to do this because before Christmas I'm just too insanely busy to actually pay attention to what people are saying.)

But I still have to take down the cards that did make it up on the walls and my hanger. I did convert one of the cards to a 'winter card' and left it and a New Years card on the fireplace. They are just too pretty to put away.

[Emptynester]

Another beautiful day in the desert. It should hit around 70 here today. Some of the macho guys are breaking out their shorts.

We just came back from driving to Parker (next town north) to pick up DH's script that he needed. Piece of cake at the drug store once we had it transferred from the mail order part of their program. Last time we had it filled it was $20 - this time $8.03. So I like this program.

Pot luck dinner at 3:30 and I have my 4 bean casserole in the oven. Smells yummy.

Disappointed that neither the Kmart nor the Sears store in Blythe, CA, the neighboring town, have facilities for mixing paint. We will have to go to Prescott or Surprise when we get back to the house. I'm limited to those stores as I have rewards points that will pay for most of the paint.

Going to kick back with a book for a bit and then do the dishes. TTFN

[blessedw2]

dd's cheesecake.. fantastic. she is a good baker and cook.. she laughed and said maybe in college she can make a little money making food to her fellow students.. .
made breakfast for all, dd older has one friend still here, and they went with dd younger to the movies. Tonight two of the girls are going out to medieval times - as they had never seen that. I made lunch for tomorrow as dd older and one friend are going out.

[Harriet]

blessed, that's a really nice dessert for her to feel so confident making! It would be welcomed in so many settings.

Cards - Ours are displayed on a wall wreath notched for cards, and it's the only decor I keep up for several weeks after the new year. It's attractive and neat, but you can't see most of the signatures. I write out what I call a "legend" to go with the wreath, with a 2- or 3-word description of the design and the name of the sender, and tuck it into the bow of the wreath. The older children or anyone else interested can then read/see from whom our household got cards anytime they want. Dd32 especially enjoys matching my description with the card and teasing me if any are hard to figure out! She will need to see it again when she next visits, because more cards arrived. (I have lots of sidetracked family and several send cards quite late, which is fine!)

Before I take the wreath down and remove the cards, I take a photo of it and store the photo and legend together. That way, in addition to having a record of cards received, I could also consider this a good enough image for remembering, and throw the cards away. So far, the cards haven't been space-consuming enough to toss, but they might be in the future. Btw, there's a decision to be made with photo-cards when I take everything down - are they photos or are they cards? Usually I call them photos and put them with our other recent photos.