Tuesday - Tackle a challenge!

[DeeClutter]

Awww, thanks, LucyLee.

I think that everything just culminated today and "it" all just got to me. Cried like a big baby this afternoon. Strong as all get-out during nearly 5 months of all the ups and downs with dh and gd15. Then these 2 things today got me!

I am really ok. Just had to get it out of my system.

This weekend away will be good for us I'm sure. Neighbor's ds/ddil are coming in this weekend and had planned to stay at a hotel. Even here there are none. must be the fact that it's Columbus Day weekend? Not only are there no rooms, but if one got a reservation at all, the cost is extreme. Reminder to self -don't plan on going anywhere on this weekend next year!

Sounds like gd15 may very well be going into state placement facility relatively soon. Our prayer is that it will be the answer for her and everyone concerned in her life.

[Nancy]

Dgkids have been a challenge
This afternoon half day of school this week.
Ack take me away calgone!

[Emptynester]

We are in Arrey, NM, a little town in the southern part of NM near the Rio Grande.

This isn't a destination RV park that's for certain - but the people are nice and the laundry room is clean and the power and water are good. It is a good place to rest our bones for a couple of days.

I was able to get the laundry done this afternoon - not put away yet, I'm afraid. DH will be grilling hamburgers in a bit and then an early night.

Tomorrow we go eat in the little cafe and do up the dishes and get the rig ready for company. Then Thursday, off to our friend's house until Sunday.

[Harriet]

Have appreciated the weather news from lucylee and Sunny, helping me get a grasp of what to expect from storms in the region. Looking forward to those clear skies.

Nodding that I like Twins' Mom and helia's use of "Time Slot Tetris" in describing their days, because I immediately understood.

((Kathryn)) so sorry to hear about your cousin. I can remember times I've heard bad news for a kinsman I didn't know, yet I felt so bad for the siblings, whom I did know, and also began wishing I knew my kinsman better and feeling sad there wasn't more of a friendship. That's tough.

Wondering if BookSaver decided to adopt that sewing machine.

I started trying to apply both Kathryn and Cowinkie's jeans remedies in my mind. I love that kind of problem-solving thinking and creativity. Here's an example of a front patch pocketthat would make homemade or seamstress-made better-fitted jeans more acceptable to boys. OKay, we really embraced your challenge with you, didn't we?

Harmony, that 3-days-to-recuperate rule certainly applies to putting in a garden! Congrats on all the work, but don't expect to do that without some days of rest!

((((Dee)))) A good cry is sometimes just what we need. I think it may have been because all the other stresses have been ongoing and not immediate, and then dgs had a very immediate crisis and that was just too much! So glad he's had proper care now.

Ya'll wouldn't believe I'm baking, would ya? I'm making a low-sugars recipe for brownies as a treat I've earned.

Dd helped a lady at the mall who was looking for a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt for her daughter or grandaughter one - not sure. This is my treat day, so were having a little mother/daughter time. Dd was certain she had seen one, and ultimately did the legwork for the lady, finding the lone MM sweat in the whole of Forever 21 (a large store), which salespeople thought they didn't have, and which turned out to be the needed size. This took only minutes. Dd was trying on a shirt in the store's dressing room area later, while I waited outside her specific door, and the lady came and asked me where my daughter was.

She handed something she described as a "coupon" over the door of the dressing room to an undressed dd, as I explained from outside that this was the lady with the MM sweatshirt. She said through the door to dd, "you are beautiful, inside and out", and she left. After a few minutes, when dd had clothes back on and thoughts together, she burst out of the dressing room showing me a $20 gift card to the store. We were astounded. I told her to go see if she could catch the lady and promise to continue passing on random acts of kindness to others, which she did. The shirt she was trying fit, and the gift card paid for it. She's saving the outer card.

[Lilac]

Harriet, thanks for sharing that uplifting experience that dd15 had. That was nice of that lady to gift dd15 with her thanks. The most exciting part of it was that it showed dd15 that good deeds are noticed and appreciated. Even without all that, dd15 would have continued to pass on random acts of kindness, because that is the way her dmomma and ddaddy have raised her.

[DeeClutter]

Oh what a nice story, Harriet. Knowing your dd15, I can see her doing that sort of thing. Good for her -and thanks for all the random acts of kindnesses out there. That's a feel good end to my day -thank her for me.

[OKay]

(((Dee))))

POTB for Harriet DD kindness and caring bringing joy to others with no expectation of return.

OH MY! I am astonished at the creative ideas to solve LO jean challenge. I have read them over and over. The thing is......I'm fairly sure my sewing machine ( and my know how) wouldn't be able make jeans look right. I keep thinking there are jeans out there that would fit him perfectly.....if I just can find them. My spreadsheet containing brand/style sizes now has 69 entries. Comparing the difference in the sizes isn't easy because they don't all give the same measurements. Some give inseam and some give height of child. I'm not giving up though!

[OKay]

This morning I went on a quest to find someone to work on our bathroom. I thought that I could enter a store, pick out some tile and hire someone to install it. Either I went to the wrong stores (Lowes & Home dpot) or it doesn't happen like that now. Instead they sent me to people who specialize in bathroom renovations. They come and give estimate (no cost) and I either accept or not. I have a small hope they will do professional work and be reasonable. I don't want to use our handy man fella for this job because he is slow as molasses. We only have one bathtub so getting the work done slowly isn't an option I want to choose.

[lucylee]

What a sweet, sweet thing for dd, Harriet!!! So nice to hear of such good people -- dd AND the lady.

Well -- the happy dance may not be the appropriate response to this particular challenge
-- but I am doing the happy dance.
*** Drum Roll *** Tapping spoon on my glass *** Clearing Throat ***
The thank you cards are in the mail!!!
Hooray hooray hooray. I hope dmom feels as relieved as I do.

She only has the following cards left to contend with --
3 to dbros employees/friends, which she is going to send in a larger envelope to dbro
1 to company where ddad was working when he passed away, which I did not have address for
1 that she is going to send to dsgm/her children as a group (They sent a plant as a group, and she decided this would be just as effective. I got a card like that just this week with note to "please share w/[dmom/ds/ddil]).

I said if I had known that MY handwriting was going to be on 75% of these, I would have done it earlier, and for her to please get that one to dsgm ASAP. The others, I have totally washed my hands of. Hooray hooray hooray.

Next challenge -- laundry & bathrooms.
The three-day rule must be right, Dee... I am feeling more like a human being again.

(((OKAY))) I think all contractors are slow as molasses. I have a cartoon on my refrigerator that shows the woman answering the door to trick-or-treaters, and she's saying, "OH, NOW I GET IT... You're showing up one week late for Halloween -- and you're dressed as contractors!"

[Nancy]

l had dgkids help make hand pies they did not want to try them h. Was happy more for him he will try th em in his lunch! I survived the day yea!
Got the lap robe done dgd claimed it.