Happy New Year's Day!

[Nancy]

I have been up a while doing okay with half a nites sleep.
The couple of things I learned yesterday the dog in the bathroom when I took a shower was good, and the fan helped cover the fireworks noise.
I should have given ddog a bath... A fan would make that noise in the summer when the 4th of July is happening.
It only took me 15 min. to bag up 4 bags of leaves. Counting it for my stretching exercise. It is a bit cold out so will do more later.

I have done more in my new planner set up.
Journaled.
Not started my new devo. yet.

Game hen is cooking in the crock pot with veg. for my food today.
It was in the freezer had gotten it for Christmas.
Sausage in the shape of a horseshoe still freezer still for new years I can have later in soup.

[Twins' Mom]

I went upstairs for a little while and am heading back up there in a few. I had forgotten I needed to go to Target to pick up. At dh's suggestion I took dMillie as a demonstration that not all car rides end up at the vet. We had the guy put the stuff (including a toy for her) in the trunk - she was not at all fazed by that.

[CathyS]

Meatballs are simmering in the sauce. Water is heating up for the spaghetti. Dishwasher is going. There is a large pot in the sink, waiting for me to do something with it.

[Nancy]

So glad to hear of Millie pleasant car ride. My ddog only wanted to go to the corner on our walk so I brought her back and finished on my own.
Cathy's meat balls sound so yummy!
I had a great lunch and now will put the soup makings in the smaller crockpot and clean up my new addition.

-----
I have taken down the tree, lites and rounded up the decor, creche is down too.
Most is in a laundry basket to go to the basement tomorrow for some of my steps.
Talked with my dsis and she had a busy holiday season with church and family activities needs a break as well as others have mentioned.
Rounded up some paint items.

Fireworks are going off again tisk tisk not supposed to be happening here.

[Lady Maverick]

(((Blessed & DH)))) Any news?

I'm late getting here. I am hanging onto every moment of the day because it is our last day of Christmas Break. This evening I will turn all the alarms back on that keeps us on track doing public school & homeschool. DD11 informed me there are 44 days of school until our next break. I assume she meant spring break, but I didn't check her calculations.

Church this morning was quick because we only had one service and no small groups. DD46 attended church with us, which is quite unusual. #TreasureTheMoments

We had a hodgepodge of food for today. I cooked Black-eyed peas (yummy!), Little smokies simmered in grape jelly & chili sauce, and cinnamon rolls. DD46 brought hummus made from blackeye peas which was quite interesting (eatable but not repeatable IMHO), individual pecan pies with bacon on top, and pretzel chips.

I spent some time reviewing my 2022 healthy habit data and setting up spreadsheet for 2023 healthy habit tracking.

DS14 confidence level & skills are increasing at a fast pace. At church this morning I had a DFriend stop me and say how great of a job DS14 did at her home yesterday. She complemented DS14 strength, knowledge, work ethic and attitude.

This afternoon DS14 used youtube to learn how to remove the cracked dash from his 2006 pickup. It did take DS14 several attempts/hours to get the built-in handlebar off (passenger side of the dash). Once DS14 got past that obstacle the rest of the dash came off easily. Then it was a quick & straightforward process to install a new-to-him dash that he found/bought at a salvage yard.

However, DS14 is still failing at keeping his room from being a mess. It is clean underneath all the STUFF piled everywhere. I have started doing daily checks on small areas of his bedroom/bathroom and requiring him to keep those small clean. I really didn't want to be the mess-police, but it is the only way I can get him to make improvements. Hopefully, we can build upon these tiny improvements, and he can get life skills that will keep his bedroom from qualifying to appear on the hoarder TV show.

DD11 is making big improvements to her bedroom by a few simple daily habits.

[lucylee]

I let ds go with his room in hoarder state (because he was practically perfect in every way, otherwise) and now his whole house looks like this, except when they crisis clean for Christmas. Hang n there, LadyM.

[DeeClutter]

Oh boy! Should not have said anything and simply hired a plumber to come when dsonil isn't here. Dh discovered water on the floor earlier and dsonil couldn't find anything so we thought it was probably a washcloth dripping. Not so -our toilet tank is leaking from the bottom and dsonil was having a thorough melt down. It's been a whole day of a series "of unfortunate events". I knocked a glass off the counter and it shattered all over the kitchen floor. Managed to cut a finger with a shard. Dh knocked a plate off the rock/lounger on the porch. The dks flight was cancelled when they were on the way to the airport at 4 o'clock this morning. I started to put away the dishes from the dishwasher and discovered it never ran so had to get out the very few I'd put away which seemed clean -not. Dsonil had to go pick up the daughter of DBil's DSisil (which he obviously didn't want to do). I had to remake the bed as it came apart w/dh in it last night. Dbil had a very rough night/morning so dh couldn't go see him. I made a cup of coffee and failed to put my mug under the spout. So of course that was a mess. Nobody slept well last night so naturally we're all exhausted tonight -and especially after a very full week. I'm sure there were more but my brain just won't pick them up right now. It's been a rough start to what I'm sure will be a better year. Plus we should give the fact that dsonil wasn't altogether happy with having a houseful of company all week. And then we threw in Christmas which he hates all the hustle/bustle/etc. So hopefully give him a week and he'll start relaxing again.

[Lady Maverick]

(((Dee))) I hope you can get some much-needed sleep. Being sleep deprived makes everything 1000% harder.

School prep is underway.

I have DD11 in the shower washing her hair. She is getting better doing this task by herself except for turning the shower on. For some reason that is something she wants me to do for her. I can hear DD11 singing in the shower. She would be embarrassed if she knew anyone could hear her.

I have DS14 homeschool assignments planned for this week and put on his calendar. I need to work on the long-term assignments for each of the classes, but at least we have a plan for this week.

The 6 school related alarms are turned back on.

I have decided to attempt "No Spend on Food January" challenge. My reason for doing this is to challenge myself to think creatively and use the freezer and pantry items on hand. I feel like we keep enough food for over a month but I won't really know until i put it to the test. Also, I have a habit of using whatever is on top layer of food in the chest freezer instead of digging deep for those items on the bottom. There are a couple of exceptions to this challenge that I am making - cooking for a crowd at church will require buying some food items. Another exception is when we are away from home (traveling/appointments), I will buy food instead of bringing it from home. I'm not seeking to be perfect at this no buy food challenge, but to enlarge my understanding of our pantry & freezer usage.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Happy New Year!

I had a busy day yesterday getting off to visit our friends. We got off 15 minutes late but arrived 30 minutes late because dh can't pass up a chance to add something to a schedule and had us stop by ds's 'new' hospital so we could see where he worked. We'd seen his old one here in the city but not this one in the rural town.

Then the car needed an additional charge on the way because I had the additional errand to drop off the car seat yesterday morning (this trip came out of the blue and I didn't want to leave dd without her 2 car seats in case of emergency.)

We had a wonderful evening with our friends and stayed up until midnight. We did visiting with dd and her kids, then I went to another room and read to dgs for a while while his sister got ready for bed. Then we did an 'escape room' game (and dd joined us over zoom with me taking pictures of the materials and sending to here so she could examine things close up.)

In the morning we had a nice breakfast, were off just after noon and home by 3:30. My regular call with the grands started almost the moment I walked in the door and after the other grandmother signed off, I finished reading dgs the book we've been working on for over 2 weeks. He said, "Tomorrow we start the other book." (When I started this, I let him choose which book to read so he knew there was a second chapter book and he didn't forget.)

Tomorrow I have a day off and Tuesday is a busy day with grandchildren including babysitting, dgs 1.75, a museum trip with all of them and then dgs6 sleeping over. I have a dentist checkup the following day which messes up the sleepover a bit and dh has bloodwork planned for Tuesday morning which messes up that morning for me too since he wants the car for that. So we just had words.

I'm exhausted and just napped for about 30 minutes on the couch. I think I'll just go to bed now and start the new year tomorrow.

[lucylee]

Oh, (((DEE)))... What. A. Day. All I can think of to say is, I always found that when I was teaching, and had one of those absolutely terrible horrible very bad no good days, when I really couldn't bear the thought of walking back through those doors again -- the next day was ALWAYS better. ALWAYS. So maybe tomorrow y'all can all wake up a little more refreshed and since it's Monday, just consider tomorrow the start of the new year! (((BIG HUGS)))
I can sympathize with your dsonil a little bit, having houseguests has always stressed me out and dh as well, -- dh would probably be acting just exactly like your dsonil about now -- and I know you're all on edge with your dbil's health declining like it is. Just try to remember to breathe.

LadyM, I just "watch" your ds14 in total AWE. He is such an amazing, mature teenager. Maybe the messy room is the one area where he remains a kid? I know you need to get him to see the need for more responsibility in this area as well as all the other areas of his life, and it IS important as one becomes an adult... but I am just so impressed with all he does with his job and his mechanical work with the trucks and tractors and things like that.

Nancy, I hope to get Christmas tree & decor down this week, but it looks to be a busy week. I think dmom may be needing me and I have sooo many things that need to be done.

Waving to EVERYONE!!!

GOOD NEWS HERE -- Dmom is home from the hospital!!! At noon, she had not seen the doctor, had no indications she was being dismissed. Then around 3:00 pm, the nurse called and said she was going home. I had JUST walked in from Wmart, so hurriedly put away groceries w/dh's help, and then went off to get her, take her home (stopping by grocery store & drug store for her also.)
I still made it home in time to eat supper with dh, ds, and dgrands.

Dmom has a bunch of doctor's appts in the near future... follow up appt & blood work w/our family doctor, possible follow-up with nephrologist (kidney doctor?) and/or hematologist (blood specialist?) -- I am not at all clear on this. She SAID, "Nephrologist, the blood doctor..." so, who knows? Sigh. Also, she will have to go to Big Hospital Medical Center and have at least one appt with surgeon, where they will run the light down her digestive track, or up her intestines, I'm not sure about this either -- but I'll have to take her to that because it requires general anesthesia, much like a colonoscopy, I guess. I think all this needs to be done in the next few weeks.
AND THEN, next week, on the 10th, she has the appt with the gastroenterologist in Next Town, who works out of the same hospital where ddil works. Oh my goodness, I hope she will like him and be determined to stay in Next Town because of him.
Dmom also is having problems with her dentures. She has some sores/ulcers in her mouth and the dentures are rubbing, and she thinks she will need to have them adjusted.
So -- she is HOME, but my going/doing is only just beginning, I fear. The good news is, after she gets through with the Big Hospital doctors, she will most likely be able to drive herself to appts in Next Town.

At any rate, I am definitely ready to start a new year and hope for the best. I guess I had three good months in 2022. Sigh.