Thursday Thread

[Lilac]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Harriet's DDAD!

[helia]

Good afternoon friends! I saw that baby Megan went home!! That is wonderful news, Ivy!
lucylee, you certainly did not start the bad mood! I think it has been around long before you. I was concerned I had started a bad mood trend yesterday, but maybe some of our moods are just synching here. I believe it is healthy to be honest about one's mood, regardless of how dark it is, and this is a very safe place to be honest. (Thank you ladies!) Being honest does not preclude trying to get out of it. . .
((Kathryn)) That is a hard place to be with your dd. I don't know how open she is to your input at this stage in life. WTG to your ds for his fabulous life attitude!
Glad duncle seems to be doing well Harriet. He sounds like a character!! Goodness, both daunt and duncle needing care. . .. .

Yes, Happy Birthday to HARRIET'S DAD!!!

My jog yesterday was all of 6 minutes. That was all the time I had. Dh called just as I was walking out the door, and I chatted with him for about 30 minutes. Then, I needed to be home in time to take dd14 to synchro.

This morning, I s2s-ed and had some devo time before getting on the computer to check emails. I like that pattern, though it takes some self-discipline on my part. I'm going to try to continue that, maybe even get the a.m. routine done first. Emails can suck me in to concerns and todos that can distract me and maybe set the tone for the day when those are taken in first thing in the morning.

Tadas:
/a.m. routine, including running dw since we didn't run it last night and flipping laundry twins
x picked up canteen of coffee at coffee shop
x church - moms group play date for kids (and moms!) in the church gym
x called ds en route home about possibly having lunch together. Dh and ds have lunch/coffee every Thursday. I was done too late, though.
x bank
x home around 12:15 - checked emails; checked bank accounts online b/c of a funny charge I couldn't identify at first. It is fine.
x lunch

Today: (not necessarily in this order)
- call dfriend re: guinea pig play date tomorrow
- get in a good jog outside in the sunshine
- start breadmaker
- continue with laundry, towels
- tidy living areas
- make stuffed pasta shells
- make salad
- welcome dh home around 5 pm
- make sure dgirls have the table cleared of the egg coloring supplies by 6 pm. Dd17 is continuing to work, refining her skills more and more. She just made a more Ukrainian looking egg last night, more intricately decorated. I don't have that kind of skill or patience.
- find aerobed for dfriend A (not Aussie friend of dfriend S) to borrow; find mattress pad and clean sheets of correct size as well.
- welcome 4 friends here for Thursday dinner around 6:45 pm
- welcome dd14's friend to sleep over at 8 pm

I'm enjoying the sunshine! My bad mood has ebbed today. I don't know if that is b/c (1) I have responsibilities outside the home or (2) I have a clear goal for today - getting ready for our Thursday dinner or (3) I don't need to drive the girls around today or (4) dh is coming home today -- or maybe a combo of all these things? I think my new start to the day was helpful.

Have a good afternoon all!

[Nancy]

Dgkids youngest 2 are here, and babyN's came early today. Older two dgdgs are not here today.
Homework done! Yea, we did tomorrows too in case dgson is here I'm NOT doing it on Fri. I need a day off from that in case he is not working with his dad due to rain in the forecast.
Chicken chores two rounds done.

Pumpkin has been cleaned and in the oven.
Bake cookies x

It's raining a bit outside here today so no need for out side activities.
I spiffed the bed took a short walk then the baby fell asleep for a morning nap as she's not used to getting up so early.

*Poofers* gotta go hold the baby.

[Harriet]

Thanks for good wishes.

I wish I had a recording of these phone conversations. Another dear aunt called, the widow of another of ddad's brothers. She is louder and talks even more, perhaps. Ddad was asleep, so she regaled us (she does not need speaker phone) with stories of my ddad when she first met him after coming here as a bride during the war. (II) Many compliments that he would talk to her and include her as family (yes, talking, whole family does very well with that). She says when my grandfather would leave the farm for some reason, my ddad would "skip out", leaving the field and putting the mules in the barn, trying to get away from the dawn-to-dusk work. LOL! She wants me to ask him if he remembers it that way and see what he says.

[Elizabeth]

Hi everyone! I have GOT to deal with the payroll document, so this will be short. My day will also be short because the ceiling fixing lady is coming this afternoon. Yesterday my car turned 130,000 miles, it needs to keep going at least another 10 years. I did not get much done last night, but I did make Bible study. There were only 4 of us. I was almost finished with the border of my crocheted jacket, when I found a mistake early in the left side. So I frogged* a bunch of the left edging, turning a nearly complete project into one that needs a lot more work. I also called my mother and told her about DD11's test results (some characteristics of autism/aspergers). She was not surprised. I stayed up much too late trying to rectify the crochet mistake.

helia: Your guinea pig play date makes me think of people arranging social lives for their pets. I assume you actually mean it is a test.

Frog: Crochet term, where you have made a mistake and rip it, rip it, rip it. I know, bad pun, but I didn't make it up.

[helia]

Well, yes, the guinea pig play date maybe needs some explaining. ... . Just for the record, I certainly am not concerned about my guinea pigs' social life. They have each other and are happy enough! I can barely handle my own family's social life, let alone that of my pets. LOL! These are friends from church; we have watched their two g. pigs twice now while they were away on vacation. During their visit at our home, we let the 4 g. pigs hang out together outside of their cages. They got along marvelously, not necessarily a given. So, the kids of dfriend thought it would be fun to have a "play date," which means we'll bring our g. pigs to their house and let them run around together. We happen to be two families that like guinea pigs! (There aren't that many of us. . . . ) Dfriend's dd15 is friends with both my dd14 and dd17, and dfriend is the dfriend I helped with an online seminary course for some women at our church about 3 years ago, about the time I was getting into Hebrew. I like her a lot and welcome an excuse to chat with her for a couple hours.

LOL @ frogged!

TaDas!
x kitchen fully reclaimed
x breadmaker set up
x chatted with ds on the phone; he called after his class
x sent photo to a friend from college days; there is an upcoming reunion of the Christian Univ. group to which I belonged during my undergrad years -- and where I met dh!

Next:
- start a load of towels
- go jog, although my tummy is acting up a little. I think I'll jog anyway. Sometimes, sickness goes away - or is masked by other greater pains - while jogging. Gee, that statement made jogging sound like a whole lot of fun!
- start supper when I get back

[Harriet]

I am not laughing at guinea pig play date and am sure Lynlee won't either. Sounds perfectly sensible to me. Probably healthy. Experts might be happy to hear it. It does kinda sound eccentric, yes. I do not expect helia to avoid eccentric ideas, however.

Congratulations to your car, Elizabeth. I love those big numbers. Glad you are getting some attention to, and answers for, your dd.

Sadie, is your ds better?

Second mini-party with old friends is over. My ddad is getting very tired, evidenced by memory lapses, but is so happy with all his cards, and he did get a few gifts that have his attention, mostly the homemade cookies.

lucylee had said to just get ds over here with the little boy and it will be a good birthday and that certainly seemed to be the case. Very happy little fella following a rolling ball around at a trot. He's so active, he falls, over and over, but always catches himself with his hands and pops back up. I think he has pretty good dexterity for 1.5. Such rosy cheeks today. Wish I had hours and hours with him.

I called the caregiver with dear aunt and she and I decided that with the sleet outside and knowledge that dear uncle will be getting moved to another room today to bolster his spirits, my presence isn't needed. I am weary, so I think I'll go along with that.

Dstepson has just dropped by and is telling my ddad Happy Birthday. Thank goodness he is homefolks because I may just take a nap.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm glad Harriet's ddad's birthday is going so smoothly. Now for him to get some rest.

I took a break from the browser but didn't get anything I had to do, done.

Dh started in on the business storage room and needed my help. Tomorrow is paper recycle and there are currently five bins/boxes of papers to go out. We then took the 9 boxes of books we had over to the school for their used book sale. Found my divorce decree in a "shred when dead" box. That probably wasn't the brightest place to put it although it is unlikely my first dh would cause any issues re: my estate. It was a very amicable divorce and we've both been remarried for a long time.

Dh is just ruthless clearing out stuff. He thinks part of it is that he considers himself retired so doesn't need to keep any of the info on projects he worked on 25 years ago. And partly because he's come across these items 2 or 3 times before when we've tidied or rearrange the storage room and doesn't want to have to deal with them again.

What little ruthlessness I have comes from the fact that I really want to live in that apartment complex and if we don't get the super large apartment, we'll need to get rid of lots of stuff to fit into the smaller one. I know big decisions are coming surrounding furniture and items I look at every day, so getting rid of advertising materials for the computer dh and I worked on when we met is an easy call, despite the fact that they are part of the genesis of our relationship.

Email has kept me busy today with a minor kerfuffle about which bibles to hand out to our confirmation class and that the minister's son be confirmed to the pastoral charge. I would love for the kids to get good study bibles but we can't afford it. And while I sympathize that the minister's son feels like he belongs to both congregations, it doesn't make it possible for him to be confirmed to the charge - he must be a member of one of the two churches. So I corrected that misconception and encouraged him to be allowed to choose where he wants his membership to be. Dd belongs to the 'other' church because that's where her friends are. It is handy because it means some dh and I belong to one church and dd belongs to the 'other' and we just say we are members of the charge when asked at Presbytery.

Time for me to work on dinner. The sap has been running, unexpectedly, for the past two days so there's enough to boil down tonight. It will make another cup or two.

[Elizabeth]

Progress has been made on my document. There is still more to go. The ceiling fixer should be calling soon. I am not sure if I will make art class tonight because I don't know how long today's work will take. I have called art teacher to tell her I may or may not be there.

[Emptynester]

Taxes - DONE
Dishes - DONE
Bedding - DONE
Nap - DONE

Paper mess in den - NOT DONE
Books packed for church - NOT DONE
Something for dinner - NOT DONE

And I'm sitting here on the computer. I'll get dinner but that is probably all I'll do for the rest of the day.

TTFN