Saturday Sums

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Those who have slipped into debt know that small amounts, over and over, add up to trouble.

On the bright side, small amounts of effort, over and over, add up to major progress.

You can combine small amounts of effort in many ways:

* from multiple people. I used to gang-press the family into helping for 30 minutes and we'd accomplish at least 90 minutes' worth of work in that time - more if you consider the kids weren't adding to the mess for the 30 minutes they were working for me!

* in small chunks. If you spend just 15 minutes out of each hour on a project, over the course of a 9 - 5 day you'd put in 2 hours of work and still have 6 hours to do what you want.

* in combination using your helpful machines - so you can run a load of dishes, self clean your oven (if you have that feature and can stand the smell), run a load of laundry and clean the microwave by boiling some water in it - all, almost at the same time! (after writing that I realized you could have the breadmaker running and, between loads of laundry, run out to the store for groceries to be Super-Duper Woman!)

How will you work you sums to your advantage today?

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm awake. Have been since 6:20 but didn't open my eyes until after 7.

Dh is getting ready to head off. Ds is still in bed so I should get him up. He wants to leave in 20 minutes (but that boy can roll out of bed and into his car almost instantly!)

I need to plan the timing of the day so I am well rested when my guests are here. The dinner is roast chicken, mashed potatoes, pasta, garlic bread, salad, carrots, lemonade, water and milk. Not sure if they'll want a dessert but I could make an angel food cake and then it could be topped with fruit or chocolate sauce or maple syrup and/or ice cream. They aren't supposed to have a heavy dinner.

Dfs won't be here (he and his fiance have a wedding to attend) but he'll be there tomorrow. His run will not be overly successful - I can tell that from this point in time. Ds says dfs hasn't trained at all, except in the last 10 days and that is doing 750m sprints. How that will help him build endurance for a 21km run is beyond our understanding. Oh, and he expects to go play a game of Ultimate after finishing the half-marathon. I need to spend more time with that boy working on teaching realistic expectations. (In general he's doing fine, but he tends to over extend himself physically and then his body slaps him down, so he misses work, misses pay and then get's behind financially.)

Ivy The search for my kitchen table (and dining room table) is an endless theme with me, you'll get used to seeing that!

Today I have to finish clearing the kitchen table and then get the dining room table cleared off so we can eat on it tonight.

[DeeClutter]

Well, to "sum" it all up I think I'll be out of the house most of the day. Have a hair appointment at 11 (leave here by 10:15), going to old place of and work (antique co-op), go shopping or something. I just want to be away from here most of the day. Today is Halloween here and it's rainy -supposed to be tomorrow too. Trick or Treat from 2-5 here (too many hours in MHO). Quite often have as many as 200 kids but doubt that will be the case today (if it's rainy all day). Supposed to be a flea market, etc at the co-op (unless it keeps raining). Spaghetti supper here but I haven't really enjoyed it in the past and since dh isn't here I may just decide to skip it.

Shoulder is still in a very irritated mode this morning. Sure weather isn't helping with that. But I can grin 'n bear it if it doesn't get worse than it is right now. (Try to go without medicating as much as I can -trying to be kind to my kidneys and liver).

Thankfully I don't have a whole lot to do to get ready for next Sunday's company. Mostly spiffing here and there. I am so happy they're coming. It will be 2 years since we saw them. Oh WAIT! No, it won't. They visited us in FL for a day early this year. Met us at church and then we & DD went to O Garden with them for a couple of hours. Meeting us at church this time too. He just retired as the Exec Minister for American Baptists in Indiana/Kentucky so hopefully we might see a bit more of them.

Off to do my PODA and get my day started. Sipping a cup of coffee first.

Loved your analogies, Kathryn. If I had my druthers as to appliances in here it would have to be a washer/dryer combo. EXCEPT it will cost us $.1525 a gallon to get rid of water in our septic tank. Notta. Had an opportunity for those earlier this year. Figured carefully how much a dryer would save me over going to the laundromat (here on the grounds). It would take me a long time to recover -especially since they dropped the dryers to $.75 for 60 minutes. Think the dryer was $125 and would have fit in our washer closet just fine. Figuring in the cost of electric to run it -it would have taken me quite a while so opted not to get it.

Kathryn,

(but that boy can roll out of bed and into his car almost instantly!)

It always amazes me how our DS-A can do the same when a fire call comes in in the middle of the night -always seems he's at the fire department in record time. We'll hear him on the radio within 5 minutes and their house is the furthest one out. Of course since they built the new hall he doesn't have to go into town and the hall is a straight shot on the same street as they live. If the call is near him he's there like in 2 minutes flat. Don't know how he does that! Nor any of the firemen for that matter. Sure takes dh longer than that and of course it almost always entails a stop at the bathroom first. (ever wonder about these things when our finest are at calls for hours on end? I do. I at least now know how NASCAR drivers are in their cars for hours. Asked DS-R one time.)

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm going to try and walk a mile today. I'm up to .85 so feel like keeping going. The treadmill isn't going all that fast but I'm starting to perspire (after 20 minutes!) I love my exercise music playlist and have missed hearing the songs.

At 8 (his time of departure) I knocked on Ds's door and he said he knew the time and was going to skip brunch with his friends and go in later to get his race package. He's sleeping here because he's exhausted and I guess 8 hours of sleep wasn't enough. Don't know if he'll sleep here tonight or not. He has to give dfs (his roommate) a ride tomorrow morning so he can't just go straight from here to the run (which is simply 2 freeways.)

Dh left late. I'm the only one running early here and that's really only because there are no expectations for me to be moving!

Just remembered I need to try and book dh's Poland flights today. That has to be done by phone because the internet won't add on the stop in Nova Scotia for a reasonable rate and I need the flight to be on the same ticket as the Europe-Canada ticket so that if the overseas flight is late, dh just gets put on a flight to NS the next day. We decided dh is going to NS even if I can't fly. I really can't see a reason I can't fly but am not planning anything until the last minute.

(By the time I finished this post I had got up to 1.1 miles. So that was easy. I think I'll stop lying in bed using my computer in the morning and go back to doing my morning surfing from the treadmill. I need endorphins.)

[CathyS]

Hi everybody!

I went to bed early last night~something I've done for a few years now. So I was up at around 5 and well rested and ready to go. So I did all the laundry. 4 loads are done except they aren't away because dh is still sleeping.

He's the one that wanted to get up early and go to garage sales.

We have a busy day ahead, sort of.

Laundry (all done)
Garage sales
Farmer's market
Flea Market
Roller derby in Toronto. (flat track) Tonight is the final game for "the battle for the boot". Dd isn't skating, but she is working it at a booth. www dot tord dot com if you want to check it out.
Party afterwards with some work friends of mine at a pool hall.

[Harriet]

Ivy, it was me who said probiotics - glad your dr is on board with that. Will chat with you some time about writing.

Notice Roller Derby and must read about that.

OTHERWISE - got through Kathryn's first post and know this is what our whole day must be about here so I must POOF and BBL to, as Mystery tells us, !FOOP. Hope to have family CCI challenge check in to tell.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

First load of laundry is started. I'm s2s. Tea is steeped and I'm sitting down to it and my chocolate now. While it was steeping, I put away the dishes in the dish drainer and zapped the dish that had the scalloped potatoes in the microwave with water and soap, hoping that might make clean up easier. Soaking overnight didn't help at all. I'm letting the dish cool down and steam the baked on stuff to soften it while I eat my breakfast.

Ds is still in bed. I'm assuming the heavy rain on the steel roof is lulling him. He's been out here a lot (staying over), more huggy and even stroking my hair, a sign that something is wrong but he claims it is just tiredness.

I'm worried how he'll manage in Australia on his own when he misses us so much when we are away for a month. He claims he'll be fine because he'll be the one off doing things and having adventures, not stuck at home and he's worried about how I'll cope without him. I'm a bit worried about that, especially since this 1 year has the potential to turn into 4 but I seriously don't see that happening. He's too much of a home-body for that.

Dh and I had planned to spend 3 months driving around Australia at some point so if ds stretches his stay there to two years (the other 2 years would be in New Zealand), I suspect we'll shut down the house and go to Australia for a long stay. We are planning to go as part of a cruise in Jan/Feb 2014 (about 5 months into ds's stay) so we'll see him at least once in that year. I often go 8 or 9 months without seeing dd so it won't be much different. And I'm counting on dd moving back and pushing out babies to keep me distracted while her brother is gone.

[helia]

Not properly cuops, but I am happy to see that Ivy's ear is on the mend! How neat to hear that you are a writer. I used to aspire to that when I was young; I used to write stories for fun, and friends, teachers, others told me I was gifted in that area, but I chose the direction of other interests instead. I've wondered what it would look like to write stories for fun now, at this point in my life? I have a friend who does that. I don't think she publishes much, though. My girls both write stories prolifically; they always have on in the chute. Ironically, dh is the one who reads them and gives input, not me.

WTG Kathryn with your walking! I'm not a Dr. but I'm assuming some exercise is OK for you. Don't push yourself, though. I like the sum ideas. Dh is great at mobilizing the kids to get the house picked up. It is amazing how little time it takes when all of us are working.

Enjoy the roller derby, CathyS.

I hope you'll be back later with more to tell, Harriet. You used to write professionally, didn't you?

!FOOP? Mystery? POOF backwards? More to it than that?

Rambling reflections: I'm loving the delicious feeling of an open weekend! In general, my life is so much more comfortably open, it is amazing. I wonder if ds being out of the house has something to do with it? That and no more University Hebrew class. . . Those of you who know me a bit likely remember weekends packed with events - field hockey games, small group (well, we do have sg tonight, but we're not hosting or leading), church events, other kid events, and days filled with driving kids around to various activities after school. I was going to look at my old calendar to compare Sept. this year to Sept. last year. I think the difference would be significant. I'm now thinking of doing some radical things, like picking up my knitting hobby again and being more involved reading the girls' stories and generally reading more. I've even wondered about being more involved in the church youth group; I like high schoolers. And there are a couple of older women (50s-ish - not that I'm far behind them, which is why I'm interested in befriending them. compared to all the 30-somethings and maybe a couple women in their late 20s, we are on the older side! We're not alone; I can think of 3 other women in our age category, all are on the teaching team.) in our moms group I'm thinking of getting to know better. I am being trained to take over the band uniforms next year, but that is not highly time intensive. Of course, there is always the resume to send out. . .. Hmmm......To send or not to send - how to decide. . . . A low key fall might just be SO nice. . . .I'm fortunate that I don't need to work for money, but I do feel I need to work eventually for my own psyche. I don't want to become one of these moms who is obsessed with her kids. I can feel that tendency. My dfriend B went back to work at least partially for that reason. I don't see any of you that way, BTW. . .

Okay! Enough reflecting. There are some things I need to DO today, even if it is an open weekend.

PODA:
-a.m. routine
-work on Hebrew translation for class Monday (much more low key than the Univ. classes - as it should be)
-walk to Whole Foods for fresher veggies to make a salad
-small group across town at 5
-figure out how to get dd14 to her small group's sleepover
-perhaps get in some exercise, either a video or do weights in the weight room of the gym to complement jogging
-perhaps some yard clean up

Off to get in the a.m. routine.

[helia]

Hmm.... if we end up in Australia or NZ for dh's next sabbatical, I wonder if we'd overlap, Kathryn? Wouldn't that be fun to meet up in a foreign country? Those two are on the table. Dh's sabbatical would officially start F 2014. We're considering deferring b/c of dd14's education, but not sure. . . That would be her Jr. year, and we now know that the high school here is particular about accepting courses from schools in other countries. An American or International school would work. Dh really wants to go to Tel Aviv, though. Of course, living in another country would be an awesome educational experience in and of itself, though not a new one, I guess. Anyhow, thinking of possibilities!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Helia Tel Aviv would scare me. I remember reading an article by a young woman living there stating that she was aware that every decision she made when she was out could be life or death (i.e. turning right or left as you leave a cafe.) The article I was reading was the republished version after she had been killed in a suicide bombing - wrong place at the wrong time.

You've done Australia so it seems NZ should be the place to go. And if you are there when we are there, we'll work at meeting up!

No progress. Dh is home and had a good time visiting with people at the men's breakfast. I need to pick a task and get going on it.