Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows Monday

[helia]

I'm experimenting, posting videos of pieces from ds and dd13's spring music concerts in members only, if anyone is interested. Um, I haven't gotten much else done all day. This has been a very distracted day. Dh is out of town for the day. The workers didn't show up. They have said they'll be done by Friday, though. Dh decided to get an end-date from them. Ds had another AP exam today. I need to go to the groc. store.

The weekend was busy but very exciting.

In case anyone is wondering. . . . . . both dd13 and dd16 won 1st place in their age categories for the writing contest! What a huge unexpected surprise!! I hadn't even known dd13 was writing a story. There were 226 stories submitted in the grade 6-8 category. There were 350 stories submitted altogether, so fewer in the high school categories. Both girls wrote sci. fi dystopias, a bit on the dark side. . . . Hmm..... Dd16 said she noticed this was the sort of story that the judges liked last year. She submitted a story last year but didn't make it to the finalist round.

I'm off with ds to look at corsages. His prom is next weekend.

[Twins' Mom]

Yes, I am decluttering all those things. I did save several spools of thread: white, off white, navy and black for mending, if that's ever needed. Harmony, some I thought were small plastic spools with cotton thread, I'll check to be sure they're not wood. Can't load my car now because it's raining again. We really needed the rain, tho, so I'm not complaining.

I called pediatrician and talked to dfriend/office nurse regarding dd. She finally woke up but isn't hungry and says stomach is still iffy. Not feverish, and then she took Advil, which I wouldn't recommend on an empty tummy for someone who was sick last night. We're going to give her a little more time and if needed she can be seen at the office tomorrow.

Z and DS are going to bring back some sprite and ginger ale for dd.

I'm supposed to be at a meeting at temple tonight at 5:30, so I need to leave just before 5 p.m.

[sherinjoy]

Helia - Such an exciting time in your life with your kids! Congratulations to them for all their achievements - I'm sure you're very proud - well-deserved praise to both you and DH. And a very big yipee to see that DS is going to the Prom - from what you've said before this sounds out of his comfort zone.
When you posted earlier of all the activities in May, it reminded me of my parent/school PTA experiences at the end of school. The Principal called it "The 100 Days of May", because every event is crammed into the last 3 weeks of school, leaving all the parents, kids and teachers exhausted. But I look at this time of year now with fond memories and I'm sentimentally missing all the activity. Bless you and the other parents/grandparents of school age kids in the village for being such a participatory parent.

Waving hi to everyone - I'm keeping busy around the house today.

[helia]

sherinjoy, wow! You are perceptive! I'm impressed that you caught that ds' going to prom is a bit of another happy surprise here. And yes, the 100 days of May is spot on. . . Thank you, thank you so much for the encouraging words that you look on these times in your own life with fond memories. Yes, I need to keep a positive attitude and remember that these days will be gone someday, far too quickly I'm sure. Why do they have to grow up SO fast?

Actually, we were very proud that dd16 submitted a story again this year after not even making it to the finalist round last year. She sometimes throws in the towel very quickly, so to see some perseverance here is good.

The corasage has been ordered. Ds has made a haircut appt. He has been slacking with his acne meds, though. He needs to get on those again. His appearance is pretty low on his priority list, but he is growing into more responsibility in this area.

I need to see what is going on with Dee. And then I do need to go to the groc. store.

((Twins dd)) I hope she feels better soon. Yeah, I wouldn't take Advil on an iffy tummy either, but maybe she'll be OK.

[Nancy]

Lunch is over & I've planted the bulbs I got yesterday, and took a short walk with dgd. I'm glad we took a walking tour around the yard today to see the flowers in bloom heard then saw a humming bird the highlight of my day so far!

[Elizabeth]

As soon as the other computer completes its updates, I am headed out of payroll. Monday is errand and shopping day, so I will be looking for a long black (or even white or off-white) skirt, then I need to find an antenna, go to the grocery store, and update Quicken. After that I need to eat dinner (cereal), do some clean up, then do things like shower and cat care. Tomorrow is Girls' Night Out so I won't clean up the toys in the LR. See everyone tomorrow!

[Harmony]

Hope you have a nice night, Elizabeth.

Helia, yes congratulations on DKid's accomplishments. End of the year busyness...DD2 was just lamenting about that and gave me her schedule for next couple weeks. Yikes!

Thanks for reminder about mattress, Harriet. When I wrote that, I had a vague picture of you in my mind but couldn't think what the connection was. Now I remember. That's just how weight lifters lift, bent knees and looking upward. I'm so glad I don't have the back problems I used to. There's one niggly spot that gets me a little, but it's nothing like it was. How are your allergies?

I just told DH he got as much work out of me today as he could. He's in bed already.

Dinner / dishes done. Coffee pot fixed for tomorrow. Coolers in for tomorrow. 3 lunches made and in refrigerator. (New gal thanked me a lot for hers today. Said it was appreciated and unexpected. Wow. Maybe we should hire gals all the time).

Helped load truck, big heavy boards DH fed me from top lumber rack as he lay there on his tummy to reach.. and I maneuvered them to back of truck. Got the sliver out of my arm.

Veggie garden watered heavily. Plants are stressed from lack of water. Blossom end rot on a nice tomato, I read that's from not enough water. So I flooded them good tonight. Picked nice bowl of broccoli and bigger one of green beans. Made big pot of chicken soup this afternoon.

House is a wreck, but I've done all I can for today.

[OKay]

Helia - CONGRATULATIONS!! It is a pleasure to see children do so well. I enjoyed listening to the videos

LO and I spent the majority of the day outdoors. I was on edge and being outdoors is calming to me so that is where we stayed. I mowed, gardened, raked, weed-eated, dug, harvested vegetables, repaired equipment, ....anything and everything to keep busy. I'm pleasantly tired and expect to sleep well.

Tomorrow morning I have early doctor appt (7:30) for eye surgery 1 month followup. I have a long list of errands to take care while in town.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

In Atlanta. Travel went well. Conference, so far, is amazing.

The sanctuary holds 2000 and there were well over 1000 in there tonight. The opening hymn for worship was "I Love To Tell The Story" and it was overwhelming to sing with so many people. I have sung with 15000 but just the national anthem at hockey games - to sing with a pipe organ is much, much, better!

The opening preacher was amazing and Andrew Young was our opening lecturer.

I'm exhausted so we are falling into bed now.

[lucylee]

Well, still muddling through here. Sooo much I want to reply to but just cannot get it all together.

I did want to say WTG to helia's kids! These are exciting and busy day days... but fun, definitely.

The 100 Days of May. OH YES. I must remember that. Today we had a band concert AND a spring football game.
Tomorrow we have awards day.
One of my fellow teachers said she asked the counselor, "Could you do something for me? Could you put on the calendar for Wednesday: 'SCHOOL'? Could we just have a regular SCHOOL day?"
LOL.
Seniors start exams Friday; the rest of us start Monday. One week from Thursday, it will all be over! * whew *

(((HUGS))) to Twins' dd... and WTG on the decluttering.
I'd have to say no to throwing out anything except the thread.
Unless the cousin is (a) no longer married or (b) no longer close to your family. But that's just me. I'm the person who has just about every paper ds ever brought home from school, and every toy he ever played with, and tons of baby clothes still left over! * sigh *
You'd think our house would truly look like the Hoarders'... but no, honestly, everything is pretty well packed up in boxes in closets. Our closets ARE packed, yes, but we are blessed with LOTS of LARGE closets. (Maybe that is a MIXED blessing...)

I have uninstalled the computer cleaner I tried last night.
My computer claims to be running defragmenting program regularly.
I ran ad-aware for an hour last night and it never found any issues. I finally stopped it before it was finished b/c I knew dh wouldn't know what to do with it later, and I was ready to go to bed.
I do have Malwarebytes also, and I will try that -- maybe tomorrow.
I supposedly have 394 GB Free (out of 455 GB total) on Drive C, and 4.40 GB Free (out of (9.82 GB total) on Drive D/RECOVERY -- whatever that means.

I have not looked at J&C yet... are we just in a "holding" pattern now, OKay? Just waiting for an answer?
(((BIG HUGS))) & prayers for all of you!

Waving to ALL of you!