Monday Moments

[helia]

What an awesome goal, OK!! And as always, you are on a roll and inspiring.

That was a great gift to your friend, KinC.

Hello everyone!

(Shall I add to the noun conversation by pointing out that some verb forms can function as nouns too? Learning is so much fun! -- the gerund being one. The infinitive is another. . . . )

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/gerund.htm

Kids are off. Dh is off. He has meetings to review his students' final projects from 8 - 5 today. I am s2socks, have unloaded dw, have read 2 Cmas letters that came to me via email, and had bfast this a.m. I am working on mug of tea #2.

I got all my Cmas packages in the mail Saturday! It feels good to have those out of the way - except I forgot some family photos for my dbro. and I got one larger photo of the kids, to be framed and given to my parents, yesterday. I can send them this week, or just bring them with me next time I see them.

In terms of shopping for more local people, I only need to buy more gifts for ds and dd16. I should probably confer w/ dh on the kids gifts first to make sure they're receiving what we'd like for them to receive. And I need to buy shoe gifts as last night, we started our Dutch Sinterklaas tradition of putting our shoes before the fireplace for 5 days - with plans to celebrate Dec. 23. (Yes, I know in NL it is traditionally celebrated the evening of Dec. 5 - not Dec. 23 - but this was the only day in Dec. before the 25th that fit our schedule. . . .) We now choose names for the shoe gifts, so I only have 1 person to buy for, instead of 5.

We are hosting a Cmas party for Dh's group from work Thursday night. That means about 30 or so people (including 2? young families) are invited. I don't think they can all come, though, and we and Dh's colleague will provide the main dishes and make it a potluck for sides and maybe also desserts. Getting in some deep cleaning in preparation for that event is one of my goals for this week. . . .Although, the majority of them are male grad students, so dh doesn't think they'll care too much if the house isn't spotless. (The majority are also from other countries, with a large contingent of Koreans - dh is finding his Korean students do great work and function well together. This could make for some really delicious side dishes. . . ) BUT it is a nice excuse to get the house clean!

My goals for today:
-get cards organized
- a.m. routine
- groc. store
- JOG
- some progress on some deep cleaning
- order book gifts for ds and dd16
- around 5, take meal to dfriend who lost her baby

[bittersweet]

Good point, helia!! I'd quite managed to forget about gerunds My last round isn't done yet, but I'm finding myself a bit distracted this morning, as DS doesn't have to be in to work until noon. I'm going to drag DH out of bed in another hour or so, and give him and DS a couple of errands to run - bottle returns, garbage and recycling out, and Goodwill dropoff. The dishes are put away, dirty ones are soaking, critters are fed, and boot rack is put together. I'd have paid the bills, but I canNOT find the ones that came in this month! If I don't find them soon, I can estimate payments and just make a note of what was paid when (and the confirmation number, of course!)

Alright......back to work for me!

[helia]

Tickled with myself. Though I haven't solved the KiB size issue with avatar photos, I managed to post a pic of a painting dd16 did this month in the arts and crafts thread! I am nothing like an artist, but I think she may have true art potential. She has no formal training in art as of yet, just one art and design class at school last year. She is interested in pursuing more classes in the future.

[Harmony]

OKay, it is interesting that you are doing this learning on your own. Are you doing this in prep for possibly home schooling? Earlier this year I got the thought that I should get some basic math books and go through them since I am so math challenged. I can add, subtract, multiply, divide and do percentages / fractions, but anything beyond that I get easily confused. I had wondered if I could retrain my brain a bit. Don't know if I'll get to any of that in 2012, but it's still a thought in the back of my mind.

I am at the minute updating my mileage log. We are screaming down the road to the end of the year. Now that most of my Christmas chores are done, I am uneasily thinking about looming tax work. I wish this didn't come on the heels of Christmas, I know I would enjoy the holiday more without thinking of the work load ahead.

Now that I've totally depressed everyone.....

Lucylee, I like Kathryn's idea of the Kindle for you. One of the reasons I read so much this past year was to keep my frazzled nerves in check. One can't worry and read at the same time. At least I can't!

I need to figure out those last couple gifts. I could write an essay about the stupid stuff in the stores this year. Who buys kid PJ's with skull & crossbones on them? They were everywhere, I even saw some with beer cans... and those plastic toys..I put back a le g go set that for $30 looked like it should have been no more than $10...and some of the games are soooo stupid, one could make them with a tablet and pencil and have the same fun..Yikes I sound like an old person don't I?!

[Twins' Mom]

I'm giving myself permission for this to mostly be an "off" day. Dcleaning lady is getting the house cleaned up, even tho there's still clutter on the surface it feels better. (Last night when I came in, even tho dh said he had "cleaned up" the kitchen, there were sticky counter tops, mail clutter, kitchen table piled high!)

[Elizabeth]

Good morning everyone! This weekend I made my long long list of things to do before going to Alabama. Some things that got checked off were laundry, show cat sitter around, paid bills, and wrapped DD's presents. TSA may not like that I am hauling wrapped presents, but it does ensure that DD does not see them while we are packing. I had to repackage them to make them fit. Also, to change the present. I got two dolls that come with baby dragons for her dollhouse, but if DD saw 'Princess Charm School' on the packaging she would throw them in the trash! While it was not on the Alabama list, I got my flight to London taken care of for a trip this summer. Tonight I wanted to take DD to the Christmas lights at the Bio Park, but it is snowing and I may not even be able to stay the whole workday. Tonight I need to work on the Alabama list, specifically, subtract out checkbook, put away laundry, write up cat info for sitter, and empty car. Dcat18 who will be in boarding is sneezing, I hope she is not getting sick. For my intellectual stimulation today, my office mate told me a workaround for an obscure bug in MS Word tables.

Cowinkie: You are right, I am from Mobile. I am constantly amazed by how much people on this board remember!

Harriet: The reason i am thinking of switching from water color pencils to colored pencils is that when I add the water, it is not very precise and sometimes I am not happy with the results.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Great. Dh is on the phone with a collection agency from Alabama.

The hospital dh went to billed him $75 deposit. He gave me the documentation. The hospital sent us a refund a couple of months ago. I tossed everything since I didn't have to make a claim against our company.

Well, the hospital sent us a bill. Except they sent it to our village name but instead of Ontario, Canada, they sent it to village name, Alabama. They had done the same with the cheque but redirected it to us correctly after being returned to the hospital.

Since we haven't paid the bill, obviously since we didn't receive it, we are now in collection.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I've s2s. I've stripped and remade our bed. I've folded and put away half the laundry on the drying rack. I've tidied our bedroom. I'm just loading my mp3 player with something to listen to while doing the rest of the Monday and Sunday chores.

I'm in a mood now that I get to join the rest of you with medical billing ridiculousness. Seriously, I'm sure this sort of stupidity is what is holding up your economy.

[Nancy]

I'm up bs is elevated today also my ear has been acting up. Three Squirrels are out front under
the tree munching on seeds ect.

We have clouds today here. I do not see the frozen fog that was in the forecast that must be north of us.

We too are blessed with a family that understands we can't give presents we do for the youngest one. As for the expensive electronics we opt. out of that letting the parents do it.

We need a replacement T.V. so hope to find one on sale or at the pawn shop in Jan. the one in the basement is barely working. We will move the one upstairs to the basement and the newer one will go upstairs. Floor display models have worked great for us in the past.
Learning about Tech. stuff for T.V. around here.

Put away dishes is up next I think.
Floors did not get done this weekend so I need to pay attn. to that.

Smart 4g phones are not a good idea for our area as the technology is not here yet for a couple more years.

[Emptynester]

LucyLee - another vote for the Kindle for you. I wish I had one instead of the Nook but the Nook was a gift so I didn't have any imput.

Just ordered DH's lotion meds - let's see how long it takes.

I learned how to build a stone wall today. It is park beautification committee day and we transplanted some cacti and rebuilt walls getting ready for the stone that is coming next week.

It was good that we took the Rhino to work today as I hauled 3 loads of fist to head size rock with it. I love to go by the area we worked on in a couple weeks and think, "I helped do that!!"

Now to jump in the shower and go to DH's Dr. appointment. Then grocery shopping and (Hopefully) pick up my new mixer at the Post Office on the way home.

TTFN.