Steve Redgrave Saturday

[FrenchFlybebe]

L.Ann I just googled grackles, having never heard of that bird. They don't live in Europe. Do they prevent other birds from visiting your feeder ?

Re payroll situation : yes Doggedly there is employment insurance. If we were to get laid off, we wouldn't be without income, at least for a few months (unless, in my own special situation, this happened at the end of August : being still oficially a school teacher I'm supposed to have a job 800 kms away every 1st of September so my insurance stops then...) I'm not sure about a severance package in case of bankruptcy, but we would have a replacement salary (more than half our current salary) for a few months.
Anyway I'm not in the most difficult situation, accounting jobs are easy to find. I just wish I could earn a bit more than average, MrNG not having a real job right now, and at my current job I work 4 extra hours a week which makes a difference in the family finances.
MrNG should be able to apply for jobs with his new diploma (the one he's in training for) from May or June, even if he'll get the actual diploma in the fall.

Everyone is back home, homework is done for DS7 and mostly done for DS10. I got some housecleaning done. I made a quick soup, so that MrNG and I don't eat too much pizza. Leftover pizza will make a good breakfast and soup is probably better for us.

TADAs
wake up DS7
feed them, get them ready to go at 9.30
sports for both while I buy bread at our favorite bakery
back home, cooked lunch, we ate
MrNG and I cleaned up
quiet time, reading by the fire
library with DS7
started a pre-wash in washer
regular lol in
some cleaning somewhere
some Zone work, decluttered two items from LR, vacuumed.
lol out
emptied dishwasher
decluttered a bit (piles of stuff in the entrance)
made easy soup

TODO
maybe another lol in ?
pizzas in oven for family movie night - Hotel Transylvania 3, probably (after the 1 and 2)
[/quote]

[trissie]

Frenchie, I didn't realize that your DH's training benefits will kick in this early!
Dogged and L.Ann. you have some really cold weather!

It is DH's turn to cook one meal this week (the three older kids and him are on a rotation). Nobody wants to plan anything, look up a recipe or tell me what to buy, and boy, it's even more maddening than doing it myself, but it has to be endured!

TaDas
- 45 on laundry
- afternoon routine
- clean kitchen
- clean downstairs bathroom and hallways

ToDos
- put away laundry
- oversee DH making dinner
- DBD's speech therapy

Braindump
routines
- evening routine
food
- dinner
- bake something sweet
- freezer cooking
- feed breadstarter
organization
- pay bill
- update land contract
- 15 on filing
- homework and backpacks
- check the dates on seeds and note what to buy
cleaning
- strip and remake beds
- dusting & spiffying up living room
- clean office
- spiff up DBD's room
- spiff up twins' room
- spiff up DS13's room
- spiff up master bedroom
- spiff up master bathroom
laundry
- load of towels
- load of linens
- load of cleaning rags
- ironing
- folding
- mending
- laundry put away
me time
- 15 of exercise
- Bible study
- reading

[Lauralind]

Well I actually got thru all of that ... oh oops except the sheets.. oh well. I scrubbed the main bath shower and ran some jet tub cleaner in my tub after the soak. Even did make muffins and hash browns and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Just got back from pet care. Po the aussie was as crazy as ever. Ds 16 came back with a few red lines from scratches he didn't mean. Just too excitable .

Sit for a bit and figure out what to do with the day.

Break for a bit
Finish tidying breakfast
Sweep everywhere
Clean cat boxes and take garbage out from everywhere


Soak in tub instead of shower
Finish qt
S&s both baths and reboot laundry
Take sheets off bed and wash

Empty and reload dw
Finish tidying kitchen all the way
Make some muffins or something
[/quote]

[L.Ann]

The grackles are pigs, FFB. They chase away the other birds and are big. But after eating all of the food they seem to have left. The feeders have been refilled. The yard is a solid sheet of ice again.

1-15 minutes detailed cleaning in DD 33’s room
2-read
3-walk

Menus
Saturday- garlic shrimp and Spanish style potatoes
Sunday-salmon w/roasted sweet potato and broccoli

Events
Saturday-9:30-10:30 bball practice for DD33
Sunday-


Weekly House Blessing-mop dining room, kitchen, bathroom, vacuum, swish and swipe, dust, trash, windex
Detailed Cleaning of spare room- scrub bathroom floor
Detailed cleaning of DD33’s room-quick declutter, detailed vacuuming,wash window #1, wash window #2, polish furniture, windex pictures, wipe down woodwork
Extra stuff-send letter to friend of DM
January paperwork-my bedroom-file box, L—spare room- DM’s papers
Death book-updates, call lawyer for appointment to review will and DD33’s POAs
Phone calls- call and make dermatology appointment

Accomplishments
-finish book
-stretching and knee exercises
-breakfast for dog and me
-dress and pick up bedroom
-meds for DD33
-diet site
-take DD33 to bball practice, get gas and read
-shopping at Kohls, cvs, wild bird store
-delete email
-walk a mile
-submit receipts
-refill bird feeders

[Doggedly]

L.Ann, I remember my mother complaining about the grackles at the feeder, chasing away birds that she liked better. We had cedar and honeysuckle hedges, so birds loved to nest on our property.

If I remember correctly, FrenchFly, the grackles are bullies that will run off other birds from a good food source. Also digging into my unreliable memory (trying to remember from the 1960s) I think that they also have ugly voices, so they are driving off the songbirds that people want to listen to.
Yikes on being expected to work 800 kms away! It's a strange wrinkle in the coverage, but luckily you are pretty well situated for options. We'll keep our fingers crossed that your employer sorts out their money problems or at least hangs on until your dh is working in his industry.
Hooray for the library bounty!

Yes, trissie, we have two things going on. The first is La Nina, a normal cold winter pattern from the Pacific that alternates with El Nino (brings warm winter.) Then we have the weakening of the trade winds that has allowed the polar vortex to slip south on both sides. We're getting it and so is Asia. We've been spoiled with warm winters lately, so we're feeling pretty hard done by, LOL. It's easy to forget that when I was a child, we went trick or treating for Halloween with our costumes over our full snowsuits and we climbed over snow banks. I also remember some snow on the lawns for my birthday at the end of April.
Your meal planning sounds like a group project where only one person is trying for a good grade, LOL.

Lauralind, my df's last puppy was excitable like that. She wanted so badly to play with Germane, who didn't want anything to do with her. I had Germane tucked under my arm and my other arm was getting mouthed and scratched until I asked my df for the squirt bottle that she used to use to keep the cats off of the table. Of course, we were in the house so no danger of harming the puppy by squirting her in the cold.
I can understand the desire to do something fun. Can you schedule in some fun either at the end of a goal, or after X minutes of work?


helia, looking at the forecast, I think I might be able to take Germane out for a carry on Monday.
Your day is looking very full. Enjoy!

Bama that about sums people up. I remember watching how my df handled her toddlers and applying her techniques to my coworkers.

Hi, kitkat.

Kittykatt, what better way could there be to declutter nice coffee ice cream?

Oh, I see that L.Ann has been and already answered the question about the grackles.


Saturday
Cut up box for napkins
Checked laundry. Put away laundry bags.
Rearranged drying laundry
Cleaned up after dog.
Folded up clean shopping bags and put them in purse
2nd shelf of entertainment centre: emptied out DVD/CD basket, dusted all and checked if I still want them
Breakfast for Germane
Tidied front entrance
Took one of Germane’s Benedryls
Found that my laptop had unplugged itself and plugged it back in
Wiped down breadmaker and put it away
Wiped down accessible surfaces

[helia]

It is 3:20 pm and I've just finished lunch. How did the day get away from me??

L Ann and Doggedly, where I grew up in Central Illinois, grackles were plentiful. As a child, it was probably one of the first birds I could identify. When we lived in Austin, TX, they were also ubiquitous - but a different species of grackle than what we had in Illinois, different appearance and different sounds/ calls. Here in Michigan, I'm not sure I've ever seen one. Are we too far north??
Did DH shop for his dinner, trissie? What did he make? My dh is a really good cook! He's really good with flavors -- I don't know how he does it. He'll often taste what I'm making and tweak it just right. However, he doesn't shop for his own ingredients -- and he only makes a main. If there are any side dishes, I need to do them.
Doggedly, our weather is improving a little too! I heard an explanation that this long cold snap is at least partially caused by warmer than usual air somewhere out west that collided with cold air and somehow contributed to the polar vortex moving farther south than usual. -- I don't know the exact science, but that was my high level understanding. Weather is composed of very complex systems which I don't fully understand but find interesting.
lauralind, I watched Fable for an hour, and she was also a crazy pup! I took her outside in the yard twice. Second time, one would think she would be getting tired, but no, she was racing around, pouncing on sticks and then rolling over and over in the snow with them as she wrangled them into submission. LOL!
Enjoy the bread for me, FFB. And enjoy your family movie night with the boys!

Next:
- clean up from lunch
- s2s and self care
- make the bed

Later:
- home: s2s and self care
- make the bed
- tidy the kitchen
- payroll: put in edits to BR Exam
- NY card progress
- writing time (at coffee shop?)
- make 1 guest bed (maybe 2)
- dinner: chicken chili, rice, salad
- after dinner clean up
- duolingo
- update health apps

TaDas!
- up; weighed self - still very high
- email deletions; weather website
- finances: filed some giving receipts online, checked bank accounts
- ordered more exercise pants - I really like the last pair I got!
- kitchen clean
- back exercises
- dressed to jog
- searched for ear pods; found them -- in my purse
- gym: locked my locker incorrectly --> got locked out; got help
- gym: jogged 2+ miles
- home, snack
- check in forms done for appointment on T
- reply to dsil C
- reply to friend J
- 12:25 - 1:25 watched Fable
- WF
- put away everything
- lunch

[Kittykatt]

Hello, everyone!

So... what did DH end up cooking for supper, Trissie?

I, too, had to look up grackles, L.Ann - they look quite fierce! They don't *live* here in the UK, but a male Boat-tailed Grackle appeared in Hampshire in November last year, marking the first record of the species in Britain, and wandered round the lifeboat station at Calshot Spit.

FFB, I hope you enjoy family movie night together. That's encouraging that Mr NG will be able to apply for jobs in his chosen field so quickly.

Laura and Helia, both those pups sound very full of energy!

Dogged, thank you for the explanation of the current cold weather affecting the other side of the "Pond". I can only imagine those temperatures!

The freezer is done, I've cleaned out the cubby and rearramged a few things so I can now tuck the hoover away rather than have to keep moving it round the kitchen. And I put the "magic mould gel" on the spots in the bathroom. I'll wipe it off before I go to bed, and see whether it's done its job or whether I need to reapply it. Ive prepped lunch for tomorrow, but haven't baked, as I think tins of Christmas biscuits will last another week.

DH had a great time at Teignmouth ( they didn't go anywhere near the pier) and when he came home finished off the chilli he had started making this morning for our supper. The cats have also been fed and Matilda is now on my lap.

[Kittykatt]

To do:
Cuddles and treats with Matilda, Freddie and Jude
QT
Update latest Waitrose order
Cup of tea
Get up!
Shower/wash hair/moisturiser and sunblock/ clean and floss teeth
S/S bathroom
Physio exercises
Get dressed in casual clothes
Make bed
DH launched
Scoop cat trays and give everyone fresh water
Cat breakfast and meds /supplements
Breakfast and meds /vitamins for me
Quick kitchen clean up
Load DW
Quick PUPA downstairs
Quick dust and Hoover downstairs
Wind clock
Quick PUPA upstairs
Quick dust bedrooms
15 minutes in tiny front garden
15 minutes in back garden - too wet today!
Go for my walk
Walk Freddie
Lap time with Freddie, Judeand Matilda
Head rubs with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Play with Freddie, Jude and Matilda
Run DW when full
Unload DW
Lunch
Cats' supper
Our supper - DH to cook
Sort out lunch for tomorrow
Bake something?
Text DF E re coffee tomorrow
Towels in machine
Towels hung up to dry
Clothes laid out for tomorrow

Extras:
Try out new Good Housekeeping Institute recommended black mould remover on those stubborn spots in bathroom

Still to do in kitchen:
Clean and declutter cubby that holds my gardening trug, spare cat food and???
Clean and declutter trays and cake boxes to the side of freezer
Pull out freezer and clean behind
Defrost freezer and clean
Put everything I'm keeping back in freezer
Clean and declutter tall cupboard one shelf at a time #1#2#3#4#5
Clean out /declutter junk drawer
Wax kitchen floor

Garden extras:
Can I feed pots?
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[/quote]

[Lauralind]

I'm gonna have to go on a rabbit trail and look up crackles. Never heard of them. Interesting bird conversation. I don't dare feed birds for feeding my hunter cats.. they get them even if I don't attract them.

Doggedly that's a good idea.. I've given myself a bunch of piano time for fun... my boys are gonna be tired of Christmas music yet. I took my solo book from dd place. I've had it for many years but it's my stretch. The easier ones are almost there and some of the harder ones are starting to sound like songs at super slow speed .

Now I should actually do the stuff I posted. Dh convinced me without trying that I don't need to go back to town ... floors are the important task today. Finding all the marking... felines .

So I read the info about cats and fighting and marking the vet gave me. Most of it I knew. And have tried. These 5 crazy ones have been in the same house for almost 3 years. I think I'm getting that Luna is miss dominant queen. Fine by Stella.. Lucky and cole are intimidated by her. Mister smokey.. well the only male we have ever had. Captured as a stray with his mom.. all 3 younger ones are siblings. But he took off with his mom for a few months until we captured them and got them both fixed. A little too early for him? Maybe but they were determined in case he escaped again. Dd and dsil were going to take him but they had no where to keep him. So he got attached . Now he's big brother threatening Luna dominance and making everyone ornery.. what to do but find a farm that wants a male mouser?? Maybe without Lunas competitor? Kitty friends,, any wisdom that I don't know already before something like floors or furniture needs replacing?

Break for a bit
Finish tidying breakfast
Sweep everywhere
Clean cat boxes and take garbage out from everywhere


Soak in tub instead of shower
Finish qt
S&s both baths and reboot laundry
Take sheets off bed and wash

Empty and reload dw
Finish tidying kitchen all the way
Make some muffins or something
[/quote]
[/quote]

[L.Ann]

1-start bread
2-windex
3-menu and schedule updates

4- dinner prep

Menus
Saturday- garlic shrimp and Spanish style potatoes
Sunday-salmon w/roasted sweet potato and broccoli

Events
Saturday-9:30-10:30 bball practice for DD33
Sunday-


Weekly House Blessing-mop dining room, kitchen, bathroom, vacuum, swish and swipe, dust, windex
Detailed Cleaning of spare room- scrub bathroom floor
Detailed cleaning of DD33’s room-detailed vacuuming,wash window #1, wash window #2, polish furniture, windex pictures, wipe down woodwork
Extra stuff-send letter to friend of DM
January paperwork-my bedroom-file box, L—spare room- DM’s papers
Death book-updates, call lawyer for appointment to review will and DD33’s POAs
Phone calls- call and make dermatology appointment

Accomplishments
-finish book
-stretching and knee exercises
-breakfast for dog and me
-dress and pick up bedroom
-meds for DD33
-diet site
-take DD33 to bball practice, get gas and read
-shopping at Kohls, cvs, wild bird store
-delete email
-walk a mile
-submit receipts
-refill bird feeders
-15 minutes detailed cleaning in DD 33’s room
-read
-walk