SHEs Organized

The 25% motivated part of me seems to be making some progress. Yayy!! Now to figure out what to do next. It feels like all the "easy" stuff has been taken care of already. Now comes the stuff I always tend to avoid. Stuff like:

- change the bed
- wash front entry floor
- wash kitchen floor

Yea for lites Harriet!

I have found had more white out to put on that planner and put on a movie I"d seen before about Tuscany with
great music to listen to while doing that.

Now listening to my team WSU cougs. trounce on the other one Ore. Ducks.

Not doing much this weekend as It's my bday weekend.
Tomorrow I"ll put my new sheets on the bed for my bday!
I have an individual cheese cake frozen for then too.

It is an inside day haze is settling to the trees here smoke from some where.
There are 2 fires with go now north of us like 2-3 hrs. away, the smoke is from that I suspect it's like wheat field country mostly.

We are home from family reunion. It lasted 5.5 hours and I enjoyed every single moment of it. I learned so much about my paternal side of family. My dad generation only has one of his siblings still living. Uncle F is 89 years old and lives alone. He is sharp as can be and is very active with going to events daily and has a busy social life. He drives 86 miles (round trip) 3 times a week to exercise at the gym. He sets a good example for us. Uncle F laughs frequently and every time I hear that laugh it brings such joy because my Dad had that same laugh.
I have 22 cousins on that side of my family but 6 of them have died. Those 6 cousins died when they were 50-60 years old. There are 6 of the older generation and each of those 6 had one adult child that died. We did comparison to try to find a link between what our 6 cousins died from but didn't find a common ground. I could have listened to my cousins talk for many more hours. My only complaint about today's reunion is it wasn't long enough. We took lots of pictures of the family groups. #TreasuredMoments

The afternoon wasn't as productive but I did update this year's planner and peeked ahead to June, writing in the school holidays.

I knew dh was going away a lot, soon, but it hadn't registered fully. He'll be gone a month in Africa, home 9 days (including our last trip up here), then gone 15 days, home 5 days and then gone 8 days. He doesn't stay home any length of time until November 29, when he's home for at least 2 months (I think.)

I arranged for a visit from my sister and her partner. And then I ended up doing nothing.

We went out for pizza for dinner and there were fireworks tonight on the lake. A very good show, actually and pretty because they reflected off the water.

It is a cool, clear, night, quite the contrast with last night, when the overnight low was 65*F and it poured rain. Tonight's low will be in the low 50's and tomorrow night it will be 40. Lots of sun in the daytime but not very hot. Today was our last hot day until after we leave here. At home there's no air conditioning so I'm glad we are here.

Ugh. Mice can't read calendars so the September onslaught started earlier than I expected. We went almost 3 weeks with no dead mice. Sometime between Wednesday when I left and today, the trap under the tv got one. I didn't notice but tonight there was the distinct sound of one in the fireplace or under the fireplace. It is an airtight box fitted into an old open stone fireplace with vents on the side of the stones so the air between the firebox and the old stone hearth heats up and can vent into the room. There's a fan that helps with that so the area around the firebox is all an open cavern for something as small as a mouse and the air intake is set to open so a mouse could have crawled into the firebox as well.

The TV (and a bookcase) is on one side of the fireplace, another bookstand with CDs and the CD player on it is on the other side.

I've brought in all the traps, emptied the one that was triggered, and cleaned and reset the rest. One is under the fridge, one between the bookcases and fireplace on each side and one back in the office where they have been coming and going. We'll see how many I get. This is an endless process once the weather turns cold and for the past 2 weeks the squirrels have been my main focus since they are chewing through the ceiling. They are still coming and going multiple times a day and we've been unable to exactly pinpoint the holes (we know their path and what they are doing but can't find the tiny holes they are using to get out of the soffits, there's one on each side of the front of the cottage.)

Happy anniversary, TwinsMom & Dad!

I haven't really celebrated anything today, but we did have a good day -- I mean the funeral for a 93 year old lady who had a strong Christian faith and who is reunited with her adult son who has been in Heaven 8 years, along with her husband and other loved ones is a celebration of a life well-lived, and then the dgrands and I went to the museum in the town where my dad grew up. It was a very small museum, but it was interesting, and I renewed acquaintance with a girl I went to college with. Neither of us recognized each other, but when our mutual friend told me her maiden name, and I told her who I was, we immediately knew where we had connected years ago! Dgrands went and played in the park across the street from the museum with a little boy we met there also, and they had a nice time. The 3D models were very well-made and we enjoyed seeing them, too. He did not have the one on display of the high school field where my dad played football, but I've seen pictures of it on FB, so that's okay.

Oh, (((Kathryn)))... you are dealing with the mice sooo much better than I would... I hope you can find all your entry points and get them stopped.

It is so nice to have bsweet back with us, and helia, and I am sooo hopeful that you, Kathryn, can get blessed back online with us!

I agree with helia -- the writing of family stories and memories is a wonderful accomplishment, Nancy. I have to get back to that for DS. I am so glad I did the collection of his paternal grandfather's stories a few years ago, as a Father's Day present for dh. But DS wants me to do his paternal grandmother's stories, and my side of the family also, and I need to get busy!

So glad the reunion was fun, LadyM! My DFriend was talking about how it is kinda a wakeup call to lose our parents' generation. The lady who passed away was the last of her aunts/uncles, and her parents have both passed away. I'm not to that point quite yet, but I realize it is coming. I still have my mom, one aunt, and one uncle. (((HUGS))) for having to deal with the no-show repairman.

Definitely worth celebrating working lights, Harriet! Glad to hear your friend S is up to a visit -- it may be bittersweet, but so good for S and HRH to have some time together.

We finally got some rain here, too, Cathy, but luckily, not when we had to be outside. Not enough to hear the sound of rain on the roof, which I do love to listen to when I'm trying to go to sleep. (No tin roof here, so it takes a lot.)

Speaking of sleep, at some point, I think I fell asleep on the couch, and DGS has gone to bed in my bed and he is sound asleep. I think I'm going to just let him sleep and we will do our best to get our showers in the morning before church. He was running full speed for a long time, keeping up with various college football games at the same time, and then he went to the computer, got quieter, I think I fell asleep on the couch, and the next thing I knew, there he was... sound asleep.

Tomorrow will be normal Sunday with church, and then Monday, for Labor Day... another first. DS and I will go with the dgrands to the Labor Day stew sale and musical get-together -- this is supposed to be a family reunion, but it is more of a community reunion and used to be a big political rally. The attendance is dwindling as time passes and the older generation dies out. It will be a First for me because dh loved it sooo much, and often was asked to sing a few songs with DS and some friends, one of whom has also passed away within the last year. This friend was like the leader of the whole thing, the MC for everything, always in charge of the stew making and selling... and last year he was in the hospital on Labor Day, but he passed away shortly after. Dgrands are looking forward to it, "because that stew is so good," and dgd has a friend who will be there.

Well, it's September, y'all. Time just marches on, doesn't it? Hope y'all have a good day tomorrow and Monday.