Thursday - the last day in January

[Harmony]

Hello everyone. I have cuop the last couple days. Am glad to read that OKay made it there and black safely. Whew a lot of bad weather out there for lots of you. It's blue skies and sunshine here. It's 77° right now. I don't believe we've had much cold weather this winter. Don't think I've worn my winter coat once this year. And haven't covered the plants at all either.

Yesterday I was low on energy from all the hard work I'd been doing. Had a nap in the afternoon. Did get groceries as I was out of lunch fixins.

Today I got those 4 sets of blinds and cords all wiped clean. And I tackled the 2 overhead fans. Yikes! At the top of the ladder, up and down as I moved it around. I have open bowl-shaped lights and there is no way to take them down without dismantling the whole fan. Who designed such a thing? And I have 4 of these types of fans in my house. They do look nice now, though. I hope noone compares them to the ones I haven't done yet!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Ivy We had enough to snowshoe over Christmas, then some melted, then we got another 9" or so before it turned really, really, cold so we had at least 12" but we could walk on top of it due to it being so cold. In the woods on our hike on the weekend, it was about 8" deep along the paths.

After yesterday's hot weather and heavy rain overnight, we now have only a few inches on the lawn (and grass showing over the septic tank.) On the other hand, the snow sheds off the metal roof and those piles are still 2- 3' high. And my back deck is clear where dh shovels my path to the clothes line but where he piles snow on it, there's still almost a foot.) Now that it is below freezing, we've been getting snow squalls today but no accumulation (the snow is horizontal due to the wind.) Snow is due for the next few days but not a lot of accumulation.

For now, our driveway and walkway are clear again, which is nice. Especially the driveway which was icy and rutted.

*****

I got distracted. I'm working in the dining room and had to turn on the lights as it got duller outside (sunset isn't for an hour but it is very overcast today.) That made me look at the chandelier and reminded me 1) to hug dh because he's made it clear it is coming with us and I'm relieved he loves it as much as I do, and 2) to add it to the list of things we are taking. The more I think of things, the more I realize that some stuff will be easy to part with. I'm thinking I should have a sale of my china/silver/crystal in April so that people who have wedding gifts to buy can shop at my sale.

On the other hand, the more I work in here, the more I love the china cabinet. So it may go on the keep list. Sigh... it is huge. But it belongs with the table and chairs, they were all my grandmother's (and great-grandfather's before that.)

[Nancy]

I'm back in from doing yard work today's yard work session included moving several wheel burrow loads of leaves to the back yard for
the chickens to play in. I put a few in the coop and chicken run also.
I raked up the piles of leaves from the neighbors front yard I did yesterday also.

Dgd has enjoyed a cookie we made good for snacks as we're out of the usual fare.

[Elizabeth]

Hi everyone! I am totally aggravated with myself for letting two Toys r Us coupons expire, they totalled $10 AND DD10 will become DD11 mid-February. I need to start planning her birthday party, she wants Chuck E Cheese. I also need to plan her valentine stuff and my valentine stuff. I figure no one is getting me anything for V-Day, so I will get what I want for myself! I am thinking the model of the 61 Comet, maybe a book and/or CD. I may get DD a book for vday, don't know. Goodness knows she does NOT need another stuffed animal! On second thought, maybe I should get her some shelves for her room! Tonight is art class. I need to figure out what to do when I finish this project.

Tomorrow, I will be starting the American Girl doll dress for my neice, whose birthday is Feb 18. Also tomorrow is lunch with friends, yeah! Tonight I am not sure what I will be eating, I am tired of Cracker Barrel, even though they have the distinct advantage of accepting checks. I may go to a Chinese restaurant tonight. When I go with DD, we always get the large egg drop soup and split it, so even though I get Chinese a lot, this will be different.

[Sunny]

Hi everyone. What a big difference in the weather from yesterday. We are a lot cooler along with most of the east coast. We had rain overnight, temp is only 59* today, but sunny.

We're getting pretty well ready to leave for our trip. Bags are packed, cooler is ready for the sandwiches and fruit, my vitamins and dh meds are ready, cell phones, GPS and camera battery are all charging. Dh wants to load the car later this evening. The overnight bag will go in tomorrow morning with the last minute stuff. He wants to be out the door and on the road by 6 am.

I just finished up the last lol, which was towels. The weekend cleaning is done, all that is left is to finish the kitchen after we eat supper, which is next on the list.

Wishing all to stay safe and warm in this wintry weather.

[BookSaver]

CI: I worked a little in that closet.

Then I decided that it would be smarter to wash and trim my hair today, since I'm not planning to go anywhere. That way when I leave the house in the morning, I can put it in a braid and it will not be wet.

Did not have time to do the pantry/freezer inventory on Monday so just finished that task. I'm making a grocery list so I can stop there next week after the dentist (it's on the way home).

Also went through a big stack of papers and put them all in the recycle box.

Tonight is Big Bang Theory and a couple kitchen remodel shows to record. I can watch last night's Craig Ferguson and zip through commercials while the machine records new stuff. I can also crochet and/or fold clothes while watching tv, multi-tasking.

Putting together chicken vegetable soup for supper.

[Lynlee]

good morning from Friday.
Calendars are turned. I have moved ahead my colour coded activity stickers to remind me whats due when. They are restickable page markers so I'll move them week to week until they lose their grip.

Memo to me. Plan on finishing up household chores and upping fluids earlier rather than later. Doing jobs from 9.30 to 10pm then having a pot of camomile tea was not conducive to lights out by midnight and sleep.

I'm reading a book on ADHD. interesting. It goes thru the multitude of names, comorbidity with a host of other things, inadequacies in dx and especially in researching treatment options.
For my part I'm trying brain games at luminosity. Hoping that the brain plasticity theory will be helpful. I saw research that even such schizophrenia brain differences on mri were normalised using specificly designed computer games. (not sure what program was used) I also know of research that bipolar has slower response times ... also helped by fish oils. So maybe it will be helpful for the various whatevers that affect me. (My labels could resemble an alphabet soup if I paid too much heed to them.) The program tells you when you are finished for the day. So hoping I don't get stuck - though it does show me what I need help to learn to do.
Anyway - I sometimes wonder what overlaps there are in dx and how things are multi related. My spiders web theory of mental health factors at work here. No time to explain that theory right now cept to say having everything in balance helps for health helps, and life goes squew-iff when the support structure - threads - get broken. Repairs have to help. Underlying biology might cause some support threads to be weaker in the first place. They need extra attention.

yoga today. pdoc. He was quite definite that I not put too many activities on my plate. I'm wanting a healthy sustainable balance. That includes keeping up with my house and yard - or catching up as the reality is.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Got snarked at by the treasurer for my sending an email with a deadline for her to respond by. Really. She doesn't pay the ISP bill for 2 months and they threaten to cut us off today and she's mad at me because I gave her a deadline of today to respond to my email (she took 10 days to respond to the last one I sent her about an unpaid bill and that was the second one I had sent about that bill, the first one was back at the beginning of December.)

I've forwarded the snarky email to the rest of the people who were cc'd on my email to her (our tech guy who convinced the ISP to hold off until Tuesday before cutting us off, the auditor and the minister.) I also cc'd the board chair so she'll know why the treasurer is so upset with me. She's threatening to quit. We were planning to vote her out of office on Feb. 24th so that saves us an agenda item.

I had a nice long im chat with dd. Then a quick dinner with dh. I have 3 more months to do on an account to finish it up so I'll do that and then I'm going to try out my nordic trak. I need to exercise on something and although my knee is fine on level surfaces, it still doesn't like stairs so I'd like to try something non-impact as exercise.

[ellyphant]

Hello, ladies!

Quite happy with my last day of January. Swiffered and then vacuumed the whole house. Recovered the seats of 2 chairs that I picked up on the side of the road back in the summer. They are perfect in my kitchen. Had planned to paint them, but ended up just cleaning them up with liquid gold wood cleaner.

The sun was out early today, then we got a slippery inch or two of snow this evening. I think seeing that sun was what got me up and moving so much today.

Looking forward to 2 of my favorite PBS shows tonight starting at 9pm--Doc Martin and Call the Midwife. BTW, those Duck Dynasty people are growing on me!

Have been following all of your posts, but my mind is blank right now...sorry!

[Twins' Mom]

I am relaxing and not planning to work tomorrow. Busy day today - worked with my dentist on doing a mouth guard for sleep apnea, which is the easiest and cheapest treatment to start. Worked on a tax return that is due Feb 15, lots to do there. Also reviewed some last minute payroll tax returns - turns out that one of our "small biz specialist" had three returns that were not done today. I offered to stay late to review if needed but they will go until tomorrow and someone else will have to review.

Dh came home early and made dinner for us - grilled chicken, sauteed mushrooms and a salad. Lovely to have dinner underway when I came in.

Tomorrow I need to go to SSA office regarding dsis. Some other errands to run and I'd like to get a pedicure for the black tie affair on Sat night.

BTW, had appt yesterday with doc who ordered sleep study - I stopped breathing 17 times per hour, the longest for 47 seconds, and my oxygen saturation dropped to 77% at one point. (I really miss Indiana, she could explain all this to me.)

Lynlee, yes. The interrelated stuff. I think my dsis got an especially bad genetic load with that underlying biology. Dmom had two dsis with similar issues.