TOUGH THURSDAY

[Nancy]

Split shift today. Not as much done but glad for what I did Wed.

[Sunny]

I'm taking a break for a bite of lunch and cuop here. We have bright sunshine here today in FL -- 75*.

Not a tough day here for me; I'm just keeping busy with odd jobs. I have watered the potted plants on the porch and front garden...we could use some rain. The dogs have been brushed as they are both shedding heavily. There's not enough clothes for a lol unless I add bath towels, which I may do. I also need to spend some time at my desk for some paperwork.

Nancy, I hope the freezing rain has stopped. I'm wondering if FFriend is having bad weather also.

Harmony, sorry you are having a tough time with your paperwork...always ongoing! Hope you can clear up the mysterious strange odor. Would it be the h/ac unit in attic, since dh noticed it also?

BookSaver, have you tried oxy-clean in the storage container? I used it on a plastic pitcher once and it became fresher and all the ice tea stains were cleaned off.

((Twins')), hope the chain-rattling works and financial situation is resolved quickly.

Kathryn, I can imagine how jarring the fire alarm would be. When I worked at Sam's they tested once a month and I was always glad when I wasn't there at the time. Does anyone else in your building have the electrical issues you have? Maybe the complex has power saving measures installed.

MT, your new door and cabinet sound so nice and the door will be much easier for you.

Blessed, you house will be so nice for the holidays and when your dcousins visit.

Dee, enjoy the parade and your trivia tonight. We had chili last night also!

Have a good afternoon Everyone!

I went off on a tangent and this post sat here for a while..... RRose, how nice that you are willing to share your homemaking system with your neighbor. Good wishes for her! And that's good advice for bathing dogs with skin issues. DBlondie has had a couple of hot spots in the past.

Hello to Helia...enjoy your afternoon!

I think I will take a few minutes to do a Reality Check with my planner to organize up to the end of the year.

[blessedw2]

your weather sounds lovely d sunny!

another hour gone.. 3 cabinets done and spot painted

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

The electrical issues are common. The place is old. We were told 100 amp service but I'm suspect it is only 60 amp. We had 100 amp at the house and also ran a water pump, hot water tank, and furnace off that without any issues.

Aside from electrical issues, the cigarette smell is getting quite bad. As the days progress, it gets worse and we are starting to get the stale cigarette smell even when we don't have the active cigarette smell (which is what I'm battling at the moment.) It is in our hallway so now I suspect our new neighbours down the hall. There is an apartment between us and them but we are at the end and hall smells seems to be pulled down the hall and sucked under our door and then out through our ventilation system. A solution may be weather stripping around the door to help stop the air flow. Or to open a window and crank up the heat.

I'm praying it is the unit down the hall and not the new people below us. They moved in a month earlier than 'down the hall' and so I'd think this would have been a problem sooner. But if it is them, then we'll have issue with the balcony.

I will say the constant smell is bothering me. In the summer we had a smell for 2 weeks so I'm assuming a guest who came and was a smoker.) But in that case it was just my bathroom and the hall outside the bedroom. Now the whole apartment smells. And if this keeps up, we'll start to smell after a while.

Dh and I walked dd to the bus and then went to pick up milk and some loss-leaders at the grocery store. We got our flu shots while we were out, so that's off my to-do list. Actually, it wasn't really on my to-do list so I've added it as an annual zone chore and have crossed it off!

[Ramblinrose]

Debating on whether to pull out my tree and start a mess knowing I won't have time to finish it till later.

Sweetie decided to watch some YouTube Doobie Brothers documentary in our living area and although I greatly enjoyed listening to their music wasn't able to put up the tree without disturbing him. Did some other stuff around the house, plus continued to work on my laundry.

Not gonna get in a huff about the tree, because there will be plenty of time to work on it.

The sun is out and I am sitting with shorts and a tank top on...sorry about that However the skies still look like they could dump their contents at any time.

Yeah for you MT with your new back door...sometimes it the little things like that that bring so much happiness into our lives....

[DeeClutter]

Not envying that cigarette smell, Kathryn. I would have to be moving if it continued I'm afraid. I start having trouble breathing almost immediately around cigarette smoke. The older I get, the more it bothers me.

Just finished up with the dishes from last night. Cleaned out my cabinet in our room. Finally found Christmas cards at the very bottom of the cabinet. I'm sure I don't have enough but I also found tons of Christmas labels -probably enough to last a lifetime.

AND I (somewhat unfortunately) found a ziplock bag with what I thought was used ink cartridges for my printer. NOT -there's 4 unopened cartridges of black ink in there. Unfortunate because I had about decided to get a new printer when I used up the 2 cartridges I just bought. These should last me well into next year. The scanning capability of my printer seems to have gone away and I was looking forward to a new one. Oh well -not to be this year. That's too much ink to send by the wayside. I had locked several things away in that cabinet in case gd16 came back to live. Wouldn't have bought new ones had I realized I already had plenty.

Hoping the skies remain fairly clear, Sunny. Know we have a little chance of light rain. But at least the temp will be much better than the last couple of years for the Christmas parade. Think dd said their float is #44 in a list of 125 or so. Last year they were around #100.

[Lilac]

I think I am losing my mind. Yesterday when I commented about the new programs that were showing up, I was going to discuss them with dh last night but he was in a mood, so I didn't. Dd1 had taken a personal day today and she came over and looked at my computer. We decided that I better contact my anti virus company. After all kinds of delays and the run around, I found out my anti virus had expired in May. MAY!!!!
So they couldn't do anything for me, but advised me to take it back to S taples and have them re-install the anti virus program and clean out the malware. I had not showered, so had to do that and eat lunch. So my computer is now at S taples and should be done by Saturday.

The malware is AppGraffiti and 2 other's. They bundle up and then keep track of every stroke of the keyboard. Can we say fun? By the grace of God, I did not buy anything yesterday or check my bank balance. Anyway today has been a total loss of time but if they can restore my computer and nothing bad happens from that, I will just call it a good day.

So I probably won't be here much until I get my computer back. I need to use this time and try to get back on track.

Kathryn, it took me some time to find the village, so you have safe guarded us.

[blessedw2]

2/3 kitchen touched up with paint

[lucylee]

(((Lilac))) I sooo hate it when I have computer programs. I don't think anything makes me feel so HELPLESS. Hope you get yours back soon and everything is back to normal.

And (((Kathryn))) for the cigarette smell. Ugh.

Rose, I had to turn on the ac in the car when I went to town just a little while ago. 73 degrees. It looks like rain, but I am really enjoying the warm weather this time of year. However, they say * weathermen, I mean * that this kind of weather in early December sometimes leads to really, REALLY cold weather later in winter. * sigh *

Boy, I know what you mean about that stale cracker smell, BookSaver. Yuck. I've had that smell in my (metal) breadbox before. It takes forever to get rid of! You are wise to throw out the Tupperware after that much effort. I also had a coconut cake that molded (just a portion of the cake) in Tupperware once. Ooohhh... that was horrible, too. I threw that container away, too!

(((Twins))) for that school situation!

* sheesh * I wish I could share some of these tips w/ds & ddil like you are doing with your neighbor, Rose. Unfortunately, my one very generic share of household organization tips on FB was NOT well-received. I guess you really can't help someone until they WANT to be helped, right? DH is neater than I, but I don't think I would ever fall into the messiness that dmom and ds can tolerate, even if I didn't have dh around. OTOH, dh rarely ever notices DUST/DIRT. He just wants things in their proper places, and he is very OCD about that. I've just learned to adjust to him.

Today's PODA:
[x] short exercise routine, straightened bed
[x] Bible reading
[x] breakfast, vitamins, Musinex (coughing is really driving me crazy)
[x] cleaned dh's shower stall
[x] library
[x] post office (mailed package to mentoree and got Christmas stamps)
[x] bank
[x] paid phone bill

DH and I are going to go out and see Interstellar tonight, I think, and I need to get some more of the baby shampoo/body wash dermatologist recommended. California Baby Super Sensitive. I do not like the fact that it doesn't lather a lot, BUT -- my hair has NEVER felt this soft and healthy, so even if I eventually go back to my regular Dove soap, I'm going to stick with this for shampoo unless I get dandruff again. I still have a little itchiness on my scalp, but no more flaking at all.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Put a towel in front of the door after bringing up all the rest of the Christmas decorations including the tree. Also did the garbage and recycle while I was up and down in the elevator.

Opening the window and turning on the heat helped air the place out but only for as long as the door remained open. It also cooled off the apartment.

This could be a long winter. To make matters worse, I can't open kitchen or living room windows because of the plants, just the dining room patio door (north facing and can't just crack a window, it has to be open 2" or more in order to stop the whistling wind noise.)

Wrote everyone about which days we could do 'Christmas.' To be exact, there isn't any day available. And by day, I mean 3 - 4 hours when we are all available, morning, noon, or night.

Dh just booked us into an Italian nursing home for the afternoon of the 23rd. Non-English speakers. This will be interesting. I'm going to try and learn Silent Night in Italian since I've found the word and someone singing it so I can attempt the pronounciation. And I've found the words to Little Drummer Boy as well. Both are in our regular repertoire so it is just the matter of learning new words.