Work Smart Wednesday

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Shortbread is finished and very good!

Lemon squares will be out of the oven in a moment. I've also got all baking things washed up and put away.

Snowfall is still pretty!

[helia]

Got some things done after a slow morning.
- finished a.m. routine
- lunch
- ordered Cmas ham
- REI - a shoe gift for dd16 (I pulled her name) and a gift for dh
- clothes to dry cleaners; some of these items have been waiting over a year to go
- card to MF
- card to G and J
- card to C and S
- drove to po box to deposit the cards
- got dd16 added to our insurance. Finally.
- got an appt. to have my van looked at. There are a couple issues. It is slowly dying. We need to replace it, but dh and I can't even agree on whether or not we need a minivan anymore.

Next:
- update laundry
- tend the hens
- gym
- set up wrapping station
- start wrapping?
- start dinner

I sure hope your mother feels better soon, FF.

[Harmony]

I almost fell of my chair when I read Lilac's post. 2 weeks. Oh my.

Hoping FFriend's mother recovers quickly. I'm sure your family will appreciate the appology.

Been busy all day. Huge amount of paperwork and telephone calls to get a project out the door with DH. That took about 3 hours as we worked our way through multiple problems.

I have dinner already made. We must eat early as DH goes to Youth Group tonight. I made stuffed peppers and green beans and baked potatoes. I had a few peppers in the garden I wanted to use and I bought 2 from the store to round out the pan.

It got down to 40° outside. We have a fire going in the fireplace and managed to get the house temp. up to 72°. It looks so pretty with all the decorations around.

Harriet, I had no idea that angel tree took so much of someone's time. Obviously I've never been involved except to bring in my wrapped gift.

Stayed up till 2:00AM. Cleaned up all my messes from the decorating, except for a big stack of bins I haven't decided where to stash for a while. I got dishes done, the floor broom swept and all the other decorations that I didn't use put away. We put the wreath on the door this morning. DH wanted to know how I did that and I showed him where I keep the wreath hanger and how I attach it. All these years and he had no idea! I'm amused he was even interested in asking about it.

Ok, going back to the kitchen and then my fireplace.

[Elizabeth]

Hi everyone! Last night was Girls' Night Out, but it was spent entirely on homework. She had pages and pages of math test review. She had not seen some of the problem types before, so I think this is a test they take also at the end of the year and it measures progress. She has an A in math, so I find it difficult to believe she has suddenly forgotten everything. After she left, I did a massive declutter and clean of one of the kitchen tables (yes, I have two), posted the Wednesday menu on the church website, and printed the animal org stuff. For once, I was not doing the minutes the night before. I figured out which of my cats is not feeling well. Briggs has been hiding behind the washer lately, but I think it is because he doesn't feel well. He comes right out when I call him, so it is not a fear of humans. However, I blocked the doors to the laundry room (which normally he can open) because I don't want him sick behind the washer. He will probably provide me more cleanup work tonight. I changed the canned food and that is likely the cause. The cats don't like it as well either.

I drove rather than trained to work because I had a meeting across town. (State govt work - we don't all fit in one building). After the meeting, I treated myself to lunch since I could get around. Big mistake: meal + tip was $20 AND there was a funny, almost, but not quite, sewage smell there. I have dealt with computer access issues successfully and am now looking at data warehouse processing documents.

This morning my left hip was hurting really bad. Why? I have never had problems with it before.

lilac: My purchase yesterday was related to American Girls products. DD12 has wanted for several years the set of casts and crutches (~$30) and the wheelchair set (~$30 also). I found for $27 at ltdcommodities.com a set with all the items. The catalog number is 615402-5WRQ if you are interested. I was quite pleased with that find.

[helia]

Just adding that my whole family uses my A-river prime. I've had it for several years, and we never doubt that we save the membership fee+. I don't know how many times plus, but probably several. I love having gifts arriving at my doorstep!! I do order from some other companies too. Just ordered lambskin slippers from Vermont Trading Post or something like that. And I think I found smartwool socks at a different site. I also ordered from REI, even though we have one in town - b/c the shipping was free. LOL! --Then, I went to REI today anyway for different items. Oh, well.

[Lilac]

Elizabeth, thank you for that info.

I am in meltdown recovery mode. I went to the eye dr. and spent almost an hour looking at frames and no one bothered to help. When you have bifocals you really need some guidance on whether the frames will support your lenses. I left there and ran 2 quick errands.

I came home and opened the package I received today that is dd2's pkg. I thought it was the wrong thing. I called her and even though school was out she didn't answer. So me being me, I got on A mazon and cancelled the order. They sent me a shipping label to print. Before I printed it, she called. That is the right thing and I was wrong. I went back and tried to cancel the return. One time I cancelled it but have not received an email confirming that. I finally decided that they won't refund my money until it has shipped, so since it is the right thing I will keep it and if they do refund my money, I will try again to straighten this out. I'm thinking that everything should be fine.

I swear the older I get, the goofier I become. Hey, that's a word, spell check let it go through.

I don't plan on doing anything tomorrow besides the eye dr. and cleaning. Friday I will have to do a lot of shopping and errands before dm arrives.

Dd2 told me I should tell the eye dr. that despite 3 gals setting in sight of me, not one of them offered to help.

[Twins' Mom]

Have not CUOPed - dh is probably put out with me - the shrimp tray I picked up today at P ublix was frozen and has not thawed, so I sent him out to get another at the closer grocery. He's been gone awhile, so I'm guessing he wasn't successful and has gone some where else - his cell phone is here at home so I can't ck in w him.

Helia said:

Just adding that my whole family uses my A-river prime. I've had it for several years,

Same situation here - dd used it last fall for textbooks and dh uses it also. I also like that I can order and send things to my dsis and they get there quickly.

Hoping dh won't be in a snit when he does get home. Holiday party for the neighborhood is starting right now and here I am waiting on him...

[Nancy]

CI did an errand today then got sucked into a movie on tv. Hens are in. Wind and rain headed our way via the pineapple express. Dinner is done.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Dinner is done and all cleaned up.

The meat turned out ok but not great so I've removed this recipe from my cookbook. I can do better than that now. It was slow cook pork with cranberry and pineapple. I took the fruit, mushed it up and then cooked it with brown sugar, soy sauce and the juices from the meat to make a sauce which helped with the dryness.

I've saved the sauce for leftovers and if there's still meat left after that, I'll stir fry that with a stir fry sauce.

The squares all turned out so there's three things made and I'll two more things tomorrow night and then take a variety tray with me on Friday (dh's choir performance with refreshments after.)

Ds and dh had a detailed talked about Kilimanjaro. They'll be climbing it in October 2015. They are taking the most difficult route (as ds said, the one with the highest rate of deaths) but he assures me he'll take care of his dad. They'll have fun training this year.

Ds already knew about the baby and had met her. And knows the mom will still be there when he's at work tonight.

He had a bit of dinner (not much, his tummy was still waking up) and he's having a good talk with his dad now. It is lovely to have him around here.

I'm on the treadmill right now to get my step count up.

[BookSaver]

CI: I'm finally starting to recover from errands. It was a successful day as far as finding almost everything I had on my list, but I did not factor in the Christmas shopping crowds at every store. I kept trying to stay cheerful but I was surrounded by grumpy people, and the crowds made everything take 3 times as long. The only thing that kept me going was the goal that I don't want to have to drive to The Big City again until my sewing group meeting Saturday morning.

Too tired to sew tonight, but I have all the supplies ready for when I'm able to start. I only need to make a final decision about the color of the binding, and I'll do that in the morning light.

If anyone calls or Emails tomorrow wanting me to do any work for them, I shall just have to say no, absolutely not. I need several hours to sew DMIL's gift the right way -- not the quick & messy way I did the one I made for myself a few years ago.

(Some day I need to take the binding off my mat and replace it so it looks better. Right now it's functional but I know that I can do a more professional job and it's going to keep bothering me until I fix it.)

I need to finish putting away groceries and do a few other things tonight, but I'll try to go to bed early. Fresh start tomorrow.