THAT'S THE TICKET THURSDAY

[Twins' Mom]

Safe travels, OKay!

Ouch is right Elizabeth! Let's hope it's not broken!

Elizabeth, thank you for your wise words: "We're not set up to do that, I'm sorry." This lady is the grown daughter of a member (father was president not too many years back) and she contacted rabbi to say she would be in town and offered to speak at worship services - she has written a book about her experience w breast cancer - apparently it is a witty survivor's guide - and it was recently published. She offered 15 minutes and rabbi was only able to give her 5 minutes because of other things scheduled that evening. Then she contacted rabbi to ask if she could set up a table to sell books and we agreed that she could do so and suggested that the proceeds or profit be donated to charity. Observant Jews prohibit handling money on Shabbat so we had a loooooong discussion first about whether we should permit it. Then emails from her and publisher about our "book signing" and suggesting that we order and pay for books, handle the transactions, provide a cashier and return any unsold.

So I think I am having trouble with the answering email because I can't separate the feeling that she might be taking advantage and that it's a WORSHIP service, not a book signing for heavens sake! She even spelled the name of our temple wrong and she grew up here.

Very good round of errands and seeing dmom today. Dropped off shred, Goodwill stuff. Dropped off a trombone and clarinet at underfunded school that needs instruments for their band and spoke to band director about a tax receipt. Mailed stuff at post office and stopped at grocery on the way home. Feeling strangely productive somehow....

I'm heading out for the evening meeting. Dh is out at a meeting and dd is going to s2s and go to dinner with friends.

[BookSaver]

Back home from many errands.

Harriet ~ For Tobias, my Cats for Dummies book suggests canned pumpkin. Seems as if I read that remedy somewhere else a long time ago, too, but I don't remember if it was for humans or pets.

[Elizabeth]

My vet prescribed pumpkin for feline diarrhea, it might not be a good idea for constipation. I will say this: the cats sure loved it!

I have been to the doctor and gotten x-rayed and blood tested (for thyroid). I was told I would get the x-ray results in TWO DAYS!!! So, I have no updates on that, I can say it still hurts.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Twins: Wow, my nose is out of joint with this woman's presumptions and I'm not a member of your temple or Jewish!

Yes, my porch light is on. Not necessarily a sign that there's any action though!

I got up late after a rough night (coughing) and then rushed off to church office. Stopped by my senior friend's place to drop off all the greeting cards and she was in the dumps. It was a gorgeous fall day so I suggested she tag along on my errands. We had lunch at Tim Horton's, I tried to by a vacuum, we did a Wally world run and then I took her to the bank before taking her home. So it was productive but slow. I would have been home hours earlier on my own (I had to keep rounding her up in the store) but it was good for me to spend time with her.

The vacuum shopping wasn't a success. He sells Dyson but doesn't recommend them. As well, it is as heavy as my vacuum and doesn't have an on/off switch on the wand (so doesn't meet two items on my wish list.) He'd like me to add just another $100 and by a Sebo K3. So that has me at $800 (instead of $700 for the Dyson but I can buy that for $500 in the US.) Interestingly, the Sebo is $790 in the US so no deep discount. It is German made and supposedly much better.

He checked out my vacuum. Powerhead is shot (no surprise.) Motor is going, only 78-80 on the suction score. That is more than fine for use with the attachments and a new powerhead ($180) will toss dirt from a carpet up so the lower suction isn't as big a deal, but the floor brush on the end of the wand will be less useful and I need a new one of those ($30) because mine is outdated style and all worn. The Dyson' suction was almost 100 and we didn't test the Sebo.

Adding a new motor ($270) to my Tristar will bring the suction up almost to the same level as the new vacuums. So $500 will bring my old vacuum up to snuff. For $300 more I could get a new one under warranty with great features (and it has everything I could ask for in a vacuum except affordability.)

He won't offer me anything for my vacuum. So, do I spend $210 on the new bits and then make do until the motor is really bad, or I do I go for luxury and hope the new one lasts (it should.) He claimed a 10 year warranty but the website just says 5 and that's a huge difference.

What is interesting to me is that Tristars are no longer made but I could still renew this one completely. I like that it doesn't have to go to landfill (actually the metal recycler because it is all metal.) In fact the argument about paying so much for a used vacuum 12 years ago (it cost the same as a new Sears one) was that it would always be able to be repaired and would never end up in landfill like cheap vacuums do (I had already gone through 2 vacuums when I bought this one, so I was going through them every 5 - 7 years.)

So, now to think about the best stewardship. The vacuum is at least 20 years old and has been mine for 12 years. As such, it beat out any of my Sears.

Ahhh, decisions, decisions.

[CathyS]

Today was Thursday? More on that in another location.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Cathy: yes, time may be standing still for you but we are here when you need a dose of 'normal' (as if any of us in this village are 'normal', Ha!)

I'm going to do some knee exercises now. I moved more today and my leg felt a bit better. It has been a rough week this week and a different knee pain, but still in the knee area.

[OKay]

all three DGChildren are tucked into bed.

sweet dreams

[Lilac]

Okay, thank you for checking in, so that we know you are safe and sound at your ds and ddils home.

I have been staying cuop but not posting. My knees are still pretty raw looking. Tuesday night every time I rolled over, I would wake up. Last night I was able to sleep without pain to my knees waking me up.

Dh came home in a terrible mood on Tuesday. He had had a horrible day and was ready to throw in the towel. Yesterday he took the day off. He was bound and determined that he was retiring after his birthday. Today he had HR run his numbers for retirement. As of this minute, he is not retiring. When we bought this house, he agreed to work 3 more years, so that we could pay it off and have the money for everything we want to do to it. If he retires early, that will really decrease the amount we need. I told him that if I had known that he was going to pull this, I would have never moved.

Then there is the issue of the house dd2 is buying. It is very nice but smaller than this house. The only thing we would need to do is finish the bottom level. It has studs but that is it. If we were to buy it, I would need to get rid of a lot of stuff. The problem I have with that is if I was going to downsize stuff, we should have stayed in our last house and downsized stuff there. I just hate to downsize and still have paid for a smaller house. Dd2 and her dh were to look at it again tonight with a friend who could finish the bottom level for them. Dd2 wanted her dad to see it. She called before we went over and said she didn't think that we should buy it, because just the process would cause a lot of problems, etc. I told her we agreed and did not want to buy it. I know dd2 very well and I could tell that she is having serious doubts about moving due to the size of the house. As we were leaving, dsil asked if we wanted to trade. On her way home, dd2 called. She is really in a turmoil over this and of course, offered to let us buy it. I told her that if I moved into it, I would want the time to move the most important things first and start getting rid of stuff that we don't need, wont' fit, etc. But we wouldn't have that luxury because they would want to be moving in here. She kept asking if I thought it was too small for them. Well I know her well enough to know that she isn't good about taking the advice she asks for, so why bother. Also, they are a family of 7, 50% of the time and a family of at least 5, 100 % of the time. She ought to know before I would if it would work. I really think she wanted me to say forget it, but I am not going to be the one to say it. I am betting that they end up backing out of the sale, even though the inspections are done and they could be closing a lot sooner than planned. I think she is perturbed that we won't change houses afterall. I already feel like this was a mistake buying this house, that we need to live with, without making another mistake to compound it. Besides dh and I reminded ourselves that we said we weren't moving again. The last one was hard on us and that was 2 years ago.

Dd2 is planning to have a garage sale, selling stuff but no clothes. I do plan to sell a bunch of stuff, even though I am not moving.

Guess I better head to bed.............

[CathyS]

I thank you all for being here, and being my "normal". I am reading posts, I have been reading the J/C board and here and the MO board. I just don't know how to be putting support into words when all I want to do is hug every one of you.

Just woke up needing to take a Pepcid and my iron supplement that I forgot when I first went to bed. The alarm is set for 7, but I also took a T3 to keep the possible nightmares more at bay. I think making an appointment with my doctor would be a great idea, even if it's just to talk and update him. The last time I was grieving, he refused to medicate it, explaining that I needed to get it out of my system.

Walked around the wing my dad is in earlier and counted the empty beds. 18 empty beds. Most were in rooms with that were private or semi private. The ward rooms with 4 beds were full. In August the same wing only had one or 2 empty beds. He is right beside the nurses station due to the "fall risk".

hugs and kisses.