Saturday's down time

[helia]

congratulations Sadie! Yes, I'm passing the cyber-champagne, for those who would like to partake. . .

((Kathryn))

Full day. I went to YF U orientation w/ GG from 9:45 - 1:00. She stayed until 5 pm with the other foreign students. we stopped by Krogers en route to pick up a 2 liter bottle of Coke + chips, which is the snack she wanted to bring. I was home barely long enough to eat lunch before I headed out the door to pick up ds. We got to visit with him for a couple hours while he hung out here! In the middle of the visit, I picked up dd15 from her friend's house. Then, I picked up GG from orientation. So, I've done a lot of driving around today!! Dd17 dropped off ds en route to her babysitting job this evening so I didn't have to do that drop off.

I did succeed in getting the kitchen reclaimed this evening. Thursday evening's load of clean dishes was still in the dw. I was very busy yesterday - and we went out to eat so no dinner dishes. . . . Still, this gave me pause as I wondered what life would be like if I had a part-time job on top of everything else. I guess I do have a tiny part time job with the Friday afternoon tutoring. The dw is running now since It was easily filled with the dished piled on the counter.

Orientation was interesting, at least part of it was. There are about 76 students in our area. I think over half of them are from Germany. The next highest represented country is Japan, with 7 students. France, Denmark, and China have 4 each. Some of the most interesting countries represented in the area were, imho, Palestine, Latvia, Uruguay, and a couple African countries - Senegal, Mali, Kenya. There are 2 students from the Netherlands.

I have rice going in the rice cooker and tamales steaming stove top. Dh bought some fresh salsa from WF while he was out. I'll cut up a couple mangoes to go with the meal.

Oh, yes, and Tori is here for the week, so we have 3 Labrador retrievers in the house once again, one of each color. Tori is chocolate, Pepper is black, and Maia is yellow. . .

I think we might veg, maybe watch a movie tonight or play a game. Have a nice evening all!!

[Harmony]

helia, you are always so busy. Are you keeping your exchange student for a while?

I've basically spent the whole day back here in the office. Every surface is wiped down and tidied up. I have a lot of wall shelves L-shaped into the corner and I had to get on the step-stool to reach the top one. I have to do the cabinet under the typewriter (yes I still use it) and then I will be done except for the bathroom and the floor. I am tired.

[Harriet]

Kathryn, for a guy to move in with his sister who has twin babies and mooch off her without paying the agreed-upon rent is pretty bad. I hope eventually that can be repaid so that everyone can get along. But, if not, it puts third amigo in the enviable position of never having to listen to a word of criticism from the in-laws.

Dstepson's family came and spent the afternoon with us. Everyone but me had a little ice cream. I didn't miss it!

Sadie, congratulations! Your ds has a great attitude and is SO right. Have someone take your photo with your pin anyway! I'm so glad you felt appreciated on your 5th. Maybe mentioning this could help management, yes. I would suggest regional. Just my opinion.

Anyway, you have brought up a happy memory for me.

When HRH had responsibility (for about 5, maybe 6 years) of presenting the years-with-company-by-fives awards for his plant, he had a policy of everything waiting until the company party at the holidays. Everyone would be dressed up for once (you have to remember, at work, it was all-white and hairnets). Spouses were all there, if they wanted (everyone could have a "plus one"), and it was part of the events. Those receiving pins were told in advance and each one called up individually, and everyone would clap and make a big deal. HRH would maybe make a joke about "the time such and such happened - do you remember that" and everyone would laugh and sometimes someone else would even shout out a funny comment, like, "How could you stand us this long, Joe?", which would get even more applause. Each got their photo taken for the bulletin board display - time given for that. Then a serious time to remember anyone who may have died that year and HRH would tell how many years they had been with the company, and mention the name of a spouse or children and say thoughts were with them.

[Ivy]

We're having a big storm. The lights keep blinking. The cable went out, so there went our TV and internet, too. I took a nap, read and finished an e-book, started another book, paperback though, called DD, her implant tooth fell out, had to say good-bye to find her tooth, to get it screwed back in. I'm glad I napped. I needed the rest. I walked 1/2 hour, too. No laundry for me today, because of the power possibility of an outage. So did laundry yesterday. Don't know if I'll have internet long, so am typing fast.

Have a great evening, Everybody, and if you have nice calm sunny weather- ENJOY!

[lucylee]

I think HRH would be wonderful to work for!

I also need to spend time w/digital pictures and S napfish or Wmart or somebody... about to get out of hand here, too, Harmony! I made myself a card to do this (organizing, editing, etc) every Friday and then order prints at the end of each month. Do I do that card??? Nah... just file it and forget it. * sheesh * I'm glad I don't have me in class.

(Actually, I was an excellent student, although sometimes a bit of a procrastinator, surprise, surprise. Maybe the problem is there are no GRADES in life. No report cards to show to dparents. I must have been extremely motivated by good grades.)

-- Ditto what Harriet said about the third amigo. Good gracious. Yes -- he has earned enough gold stars to last a lifetime!

[helia]

Yes, Harmony, we've decided to keep GG for the year. She is still very unobtrusive and easy to have around. Still a bit on the quiet side, but as her English improves, we think that will change. Though, we knew she was more on the quiet side as her teachers and her parents described her that way. We considered that a plus!!

Dd17 just got home from her babysitting job. This is one of the families in our small group, so they know dd17 since she watches them every other week at small group. However, no one was sure how the dd2 would react since she is rather clingy to her parents and never stays with the kids during the entire small group time. It sounds like after a several minutes of serious tantruming when her parents left the house, she eventually got bored and joined dd17 and her 2 older brothers - and was happy as a lark the rest of the evening!!

Not sure what I will do for the next hour or so before I go to bed. All 3 girls are doing homework right now and dh is working.

[Sunny]

Sadie, Congratulations on your 10 year anniversary!. Yes, it is nice to be recognized. Does your store have a "morning meeting"? My Sam's store gave out awards, etc. at that time.

((Kathryn))

I had pretty much of a do-nothing-day today. Early this morning we went to drugstore and picked up RX refill for dh, then on to W-M for a few groceries, dog treats, a night light for the main bathroom and bottle of drano and a plunger. Other than that I only did the basic 3 D's.

It was kind of breezy here today and this evening there were some dark clouds; I was surprised that it didn't rain. The sun was very warm today, but it is starting to get a little cooler at night. Ddog Minnie thinks it is bedtime as soon as it gets dark!

Our kitchen sink has been draining slow and this morning it almost backed up. I'm going to try the plunger first, then the drano and hope they work.

Harmony, great job on the work in your office and getting your pictures done.

Ivy, hope the storm passes quickly!

Dh has gone to bed already. I think I'll go read for a little while before I turn the lights out.

[Ivy]

CONGRATULATIONS, SADIE! That's great you made it 10 years! Cute story, about the plaque, etc.., too.

Harriet, Once a doctor told me, "An organized environment means an organized mind."

Kathryn, Do you know what causes your rashes? I hope it's better tonight!

Sunny, Another storm's coming tomorrow, too. This weekend, we're supposed to get over 2 1/2" of rain here in our city! It absolutely roar-poured awhile today! Very noisy!

The lights stopped blinking now! The storm's doing a break for now and another one comes back tonight, DH said. DH said he doesn't know if tonight's storm lasts into tomorrow or if tomorrow's storm is another one. They're just coming in off the Pacific bam-bam-bam! Next there will be flooding in some areas, some basements, storm drains, and then there will be mudslides, closures to roads and a possible sink hole can happen, too. And here, my Dsis just moved to Utah, near the NV border, sees sunshine, cactus and red dirt. She's loving it, too! I just try to "picture" her in her tank top and shorts the end of Sept., which makes me smile inside that she's very happy with her DH in their new State. They got tired of wet, cold, mudslide winters in Oregon on the Coast.

[Nancy]

Back from town we went to the
Home improvement store, to price some clear stuff for the chicken run roof. We went to the movie and then had dinner.

Came home to feed the hens and had to redo the light for winter. The hens were settling in to roost after I lowered those this afternoon they were scuffling around a bit but settled in nicely after a bit.