Sunny or Snowy Sunday

[Twins' Mom]

Waves to Lisa B!

And another round:
-find FP and update to dos
-clean glass of front door
-spend 15 minutes to start writing for temple bulletin
-from FP list, email bulletin editor with anything else that s/b included
-pay a medical bill and scan

[blessedw2]

so tired I went back to sleep
hello to each of you.

Small goal day today: wrap the christmas presents I have and make new list
later: wrap teachers presents and put in dd's room

[helia]

Good evening everyone! It is 5:15 here. Dh left for a run about 25 minutes ago. Sunset was at 5:06; it was/is too dark for me to feel comfortable joining dh jogging tonight.

I doubled the soup recipe this morning, which made so much, it wouldn't fit in my crockpot. I couldn't even put in all the veggies until after church, and then dh transferred it to a large stock pot which we used to finish simmering the soup stove top.

We had a lovely time with dfriends from Tx, and they only stayed 3 hours, so our fears of the worst didn't materialize! As usual. I guess our fears were FAE (fundamental attribution error) at work. We invited S and R to join us for lunch; S knew Taiwanese friend a little when she was here. Their 2 little girls are beautiful!! A bit noisy at times, but I think that is normal for such little ones.

I liked my schedule this morning; I went to bed at 10:30 last night and got up at 6:30, awake and ready to do some work before church. Actually, I was awake at 5:30; I should have just gotten up then. Before we left for church, I made the beef vegetable soup, set up the breadmaker to make whole wheat bread, cleared our hot spot, cleaned 2 bathrooms, fed the dog, fed the g. pigs, showered, had bfast, did a little pick up around the house. I realized that when people come over to our house, I feel much better if I know the bathrooms are clean. A little untidiness is more tolerable to me than a dirty bathroom.

Since we had soup and bread for lunch, we're going to have bfast for supper, pancakes and scrambled eggs, which I'd better get started.

I'm doing laundry, mostly for dh who leaves tonight.

BBL

[Harriet]

Oh, thanks for the tip, LisaB, I didn't know she was doing that in her studio now, so maybe I can catch it some time. Hand piecing can be so relaxing - I know you are enjoying that! Good job handling all the laundry.

Yes, helia, I've read somewhere that much is mentally/subconsciously "forgiven" by visitors if the bathrooms and kitchen are clean.

BookSaver, what class will you teach? I guess I mean what will you name it?

Both LisaB and BookSaver are making me wistful for stitching!

We are slowly getting back to normal around here. Coming to grips with a full school schedule spreading out from now to Dec 21 with no day off. yipes, we had gotten used to days off!

Wow, blessed is already down to teachers' presents!

I also need to buckle down with healthy habits from now until then. So maybe the structure will help me some.

[scattered]

I feel like a sloth compared to all of you.

Helia - we love doing breakfast for dinner, but haven't in a while... hmmm maybe I should do that instead tonight and make curry in the crock-pot instead.

Blessed - sleeping all day sounds awesome.

I am done for the night... just can't do anymore. Do need to make dinner and have 2 lol's to finish. DS20 is working on folding the last 2 lols. DS13 has disappeared to his room.

ToDo
coffee
Reboot Bert & Ernie w(XXXX/) d(XXXXX/) f(XXXX/) p/a(XXX)
Declutter LR
Dust LR
Sweep LR
Mop LR
Defat stock
Freeze Stock
Dinner (turkey curry)

TaDa's
d2s
email
check UOD for conference (ugh, I have to wear the uniforms that I hate... also means I need to pick up a new pair shoes )
Sweep MstrBR

Extra TaDas
DS13 unload/reload/run Agnes
Tidy kitchen
Swept upstairs & stairs
Declutter Stair landing
Re-leveled Bert (this time I used wood hopefully it will last)
Melt down candle ends

BBL

[Harmony]

Thanks for the link, Harriet. That was a lot of good books!

My house is back to just us. The troops left a couple hours ago after a frantic attempt to corral everything into suitcases and an overstuffed van, sandwiching the extra kid and the dog in the middle of it all.

I have stayed busy with no down time from Monday morning until right now. There isn't a muscle in my body that doesn't ache.

However, I kept up with things, 4th LOL is done, much of that folded; one bed has new sheets on it. Air mattresses are put away with that bin all tidied and the inflators back in boxes. Another kitchen cabinet straightened out in the process of more put-away.

I don't know why it is so hard to do this stuff. My age I guess and the mountain of work that comes along with 3 boys and 1 toddler. The boys got pretty bored and couldn't be persuaded to go run around outside much. The toddler fell against a table and her gums bled something fierce. She is ok, but it was a scary time for a bit. Things fell apart after that so I rocked her a bit and after I had to put her down she slept in that chair quite a while.

Nice cooked dinner of spaghetti and salad was a huge hit. Boys had 2 plates each. It's a little discouraging how many things they do not eat, do not like, regardless of the effort put into making them...to say nothing of the toddler who eats basically nothing but snacks or fruit. And the attitude, gad-zooks! DGSon thought I was really mean (he gave me that look: how dare you say no to her) when she wanted to play with the monopoly game and I didn't want a million pieces everywhere for the umpteenth time in 2 days...

So many thoughts swirling in my head about the best way to deal with all this...

DD1 says to me, upon seeing me struggle to pull myself to my feet when I was down on the floor for something: you should do lunges like this, and she does a couple and then walks away. I wonder what she will think if she gets old and achy someday.

Well, back to normal. My desk is overflowed, mucho mucho garbage and recycling is out to the curb. Which reminds me I must check on diapers around here...

I'll be back in a better mood sometime soon.

[Ivy]

I'm tired after writing out 3 outlines. I wanted to do 8 by bedtime, have 5 to go, and I feel burnt out for today.

I put the red, green, white, and gold Christmas tablecloth on the dining room table. I put a family of snowmen, which was a gift of a painted ceramic family of snow people. I hung a "Welcome" indoor wreath and put a metal Christmas card wall-hanging holder next to it. I put a red candle next to the snowmen family, too.

I rested awhile, but didn't nap. With all the laundry caught up, all the snail mail caught up, and all the cards done, I feel at a loss. I know there are gifts I can be crocheting. Maybe this evening? Or maybe I'll read instead. I'm just too tired from being up way too late, for me, last night. Now I'm all messed up.

DH will go to Safeway tomorrow. Says he needs no list, but wants to buy things other than turkey. I thought that was funny.

I feel like a sloth today, too, Scattered! Maybe something's in the air.

Helia, We love breakfast for dinner, too. I'm glad you had company.

Blessed, if you sleep all day, does it mess up your sleep that night and the next day?

Waving to Twins, Lisa B., and Booksaver, too. And MT, Harriet, and Harmony, Dee, Kathyrn, and others I've accidentally forgotten.

[scattered]

Harmony - I think I got you and Harriet confused earlier... was remembering your posts from yesterday regarding the DgKids and for some reason thought they were from her... oh well I will claim early onset Alzheimer's.

Ivy - I think you are right.

Ended up making waffles, bacon, and eggs for dinner (yum!) put the curry together in the crock-pot and into Maxie that way I can just throw the liner in the base and turn it on to low before I leave for work in the morning. The DS's are cleaning up the kitchen now... I think. Looks more like they are talking and goofing off but what do I know. I'm going to fold clothes while I watch TV... may even start to tackle the unmatched socks.

ToDo
coffee
Reboot Bert & Ernie w(XXXX/) d(XXXXXX) f(XXXX/) p/a(XXX)
Declutter LR
Dust LR
Sweep LR
Mop LR
Defat stock
Freeze Stock

TaDa's
d2s
email
check UOD for conference (ugh, I have to wear the uniforms that I hate... also means I need to pick up a new pair shoes )
Sweep MstrBR
Dinner (Breakfast for Dinner)

Extra TaDas
DS13 unload/reload/run Agnes
Tidy kitchen
Swept upstairs & stairs
Declutter Stair landing
Re-leveled Bert (this time I used wood hopefully it will last)
Melt down candle ends
Set-up Crock-pot for in the morning

BBL... maybe

[helia]

((Harmony)) I feel exhausted just reading about your time with dgkids, activity level, messes, attitude and all. . . . . Was this the same toddler you watched not long ago for a week? Or was that a different dgkid?

Dd14 stepped in to make the pancakes for me. She's our resident crepe-maker, so she was pretty good at it. That freed me to prep and make scrambled eggs. We are now out of eggs and milk. Dd14 and I can use powdered milk in our tea tomorrow. R joined us for dinner; S had a meeting.

Things have been a little crazy since ds has been home. Good crazy. Ds and dd17 were having a dish towel war tonight while "cleaning up" after dinner. It involved flying dish towels, wrapping dish towels around each other, and lots of shouting and laughter. During the long car ride yesterday, dd14 was apparently bonking ds on the head with balls of yarn while ds was laughing nonstop. . . . . . Yes, that's how our teens entertain themselves. I guess they are still "kids" at heart.

[Harriet]

LOL, Harmony! Just let a whole new series of unfamiliar responsibilities happen in your dd's life for several days and she'll be slowed down quite a bit. Everyone can be good at what they do every day! Duh! It's handling the surprises that's tough and you handled everything beautifully. I hide games/toys that have caused me trouble in the past so I don't have to answer questions about them! I forbid access to the game cabinet all weekend and don't feel the least bit bad about it - there was too much going on.

I was down in the floor Friday evening trying to get a face-on photo of the boys. Ds27 swooped dgs1 up into his arms then and started talking with others, not noticing that I had been reaching out expecting him to give me a hand up. Dgs1 reached down and held my hand! LOL!

Well, scattered, Harmony and I both had grandchildren weekends, so not hard to confuse us.

Emptynester, hope the greeting was pleasant. You are having amazing weather.

Wonder if Cowinkie is having the same. Let's see ... ... is Norma in the Arizona area yet?

I've committed to goals in H and F and am looking for accountability. Nancy and Kathryn have been SO GOOD over there, but I'm sneaking back in, having spent Thanksgiving losing some ground on healthy habits. Who else is going to come play with us? Were we supposed to come looking for OKay if we missed her for a while? Harmony, no lunges necessary! (ducking and running)