Thrilling Thursday

[lucylee]

Well, that is a hopeful title for the day. I am praying for some thrills. Please see the latest development in my AAUUUGGHHH thread. * sigh *

Little bit of a thrill tonight though. Nothing like holding a baby who's so tired he doesn't mind being held, while he turns pages, back and forth, back and forth, in his daddy's old children's Bible story picture book. He won't stay on a page at all long enough to read a story... but at least he seemed happy to sit in my lap.
Long day ahead.

Going to bed now. Just thought I'd start y'all off, b/c y'all will have a day and a half done before I make it back to the computer. Please send some good thoughts and more wisdom for dealing with grumbling male.

[OKay]

Good Morning!

(((LucyLee))))

I'm hoping to be thrilled @ meeting with LO teacher this afternoon. It is parent/teacher day = 6 weeks into the school year. I am going with an open heart/mind to any suggestion that could help LO. I so hope they don't suggest that he should be held back a grade. I very much do not want to hold him back but know he is youngest in the class and a male which are two strikes against him being able to stay up with older classmates. However, all of his papers (about 30 papers a week) are coming home with 95% of them marked "Well done" or "Great Job". Occasionally he misses one or two per page and has the dreaded red ink circling the problem.

AFter supper last night I walked at park with 3 generations from DH side of the family. LO and cousin had a blast on the playground together. I'm trying to decide if I can fit this activity in this timeslot on a daily basis. It would give me a 4th daily exercise slot adding up to a solid hour of exercise. I use pacing/trekking poles at 6:30am to limber up and get heart rate up, play basketball with LO at 7:45am, walk/jog by myself at 8:15am..... but I don't have any exercise time slots after that. I think the evening walk/play would be good for LO and time well spent. Hum.....sounds like I'm coming close to making a commitment.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Hope you sleep well, Lucylee.

OKay, you continue to amaze me. Any one of those exercise routines would be an improvement for me. Normally, I'm better than I am right now, but something had to go and I've chosen my healthy routines to jettison.

I'm up. Having tea and chocolate. Guest room is ready for dd (it is also the trip prep and laundry drying room so I had to prompt dh to finish unpacking and I had to put away all the laundry.) Dishwasher is emptied. Not sure what I'm having for dinner tonight, possibly burgers. Dd arrives here after dinner tonight and ds is at work so it is just dh and I.

I have church office work this morning, then grocery shopping (dh came with me last night so it didn't get done then.)

Dd was rude at McDonalds to someone she had been chatting with and it upset dh to the point of him not being able to sleep. As well, the New Zealand client sent a request for proposal so he had that on his mind too.

At McDonalds, dd loaned her phone to a young woman who then struck up a conversation. Turns out she was Copt Christian and dd tried to shut down the conversation but when it didn't work, she gathered up her meal and told us we were leaving. Dh was shocked. I knew what was coming because I can't say a word about God (let alone Jesus) to dd without her shutting down the conversation with me (not in a convert way, but just talking about events in my life including God.) I told dh that now he understands why I stress over my relationship with dd because I'm constantly walking a tightrope when we talk about sensitive issues. If I let faith enter my words, she'll shut down on me completely and not talk to me at all about anything. He'd never witness this before. (BTW: the conversation was sparked by my wearing a cross and dd being generous with her phone so the girl wanted to know us better and was using the Christian symbol as conversation starter.)

Anyway, not a good way to start this visit.

Tea is almost done so I better get a move-on.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

In my geography learning today, I've learned that Santa Fe is half way between two SHEs. Sigh.... This is going to be tricky.

We are flying into Albuquerque because nothing seems to flies from there to Santa Fe. So we'll have a rental car. Dh has to be in Santa Fe November 11-15. If we weren't visiting, we'd arrive on the 10th (leaving after church from here and getting in at midnight there) and leave on the 16th (after driving back to Albuquerque for the night of the 15th so we can take an early morning flight.) We have some flexibility on both ends so I'm just figuring out how long I want to be away. A one-way car rental is $1100 more than returning to the same airport, so flying into one airport, visiting, driving, working, driving, visiting, flying home, isn't really an option despite it being the most time efficient.

[Twins' Mom]

I'm again in a la-la land on too many requests on my time and not enough bandwidth to mentally process everything. Dh is put out with me because I'm feeling there's not enough time for me, much less for him and he's feeling he has been placed behind everything else. Worried about needing to move dmom to a nursing home if dbro (not dear today) can't help her remember to take her meds. I know that his health isn't great, but her house is falling down needing repairs and he's unemployed and has all the time in the world.

Phone call last night from one of the perpetual temple troublemakers asking for special treatment because she doesn't like how things are being done, and I still haven't gotten back to the board member who wanted me to call her yesterday. And all I want to do is collapse or run away.

I'm out the door to pick up dmom. I wrote out the issues I saw yesterday with forgetfulness and confusion for the doc to read hopefully before she enters the room. Cheerful attitude on board, I hope!

[Lilac]

(((Kathryn))) I am so sorry about the McD's incident but glad that your dh witnessed it. This way he knows your concerns are not figments of your imagination.

I will be leaving at 9 to take dsisil to meet her dd. We are really going to miss her. Dh told her to come back soon. We have had a great time with her. Her 2 dgd's are so anxious for her to come home. Their dad fixed 2 upstairs rooms into bedrooms for them. He has painted, laid carpet and built a closet in 1 room. Their house used to have an apartment upstairs. Dsisil has a bedroom and a living room up there.

The boys are here, so I better get them off to school.

[Harriet]

Goodness.

((lucylee)), ((Twins' Mom)), ((Kathryn's dh)) Better sleep and less worry is wished to each one.

Lilac, wow, what a wonderful thing for her to come home to, and won't she have much to tell. That's cool.

OKay, in your families' position of a youngest-in-class male with stature above the others, I believe the wisest course of action is to continue expecting strong schoolwork responsibility, and doing your best to give or get him the help he needs to stay on track. Trust in his precociousness to keep him alert, curious and interested enough in learning to do well. Stay positive in whatever you say in the home about school.

Ivy, it's so good to hear your 3x5s are so much help and the cardfile coming together so well for you. I enjoyed the link.

Kathryn, well, that's true, it was rude of dd toward all. I would liken it to political chat. If anyone is on one side of an issue - from foreign policy to lotteries to carving pumpkins - that does not impact the ability to chat informally with a person on the other side. Respect to parents certainly dictates that we offer silence, at the least, if they choose to chat with that person. Or, anyone should be able to offer to the conversation that they happen to disagree. So what? No big deal. The meal is still enjoyable, the company still pleasant.

I've had a thrilling monkey-wrench thrown into my day. Turns out the engineering students form a club today, at the exact moment of dd's dentist appt. Sigh. This is the only school club she cares anything about, really, having been roundly disappointed that some others were either frivolous or limited. So I've called the dentist's office and gotten the appt switched and will have to leave in less than an hour. I hope she won't tell me later it was the worst possible class to miss, but as I stare at her schedule, I believe she'll miss only lunchtime and the last of one, first of another class.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

In the church office now.

Got our church off the rotation list for the retirement home I preach at. They have weekly services during the week as well and our minister used to take her turn twice a year. Apparently she forgot to let everyone know she wasn't in our church any more and to let me know what the schedules were. She's missed two different places and we end up with emergency phone calls.

Not much for me to do this week so will start in on October 6th service. I may end up covering the service this week because our minister is ill. We'll see.

[OKay]

I love hearing about Harriet's DD interest in engineering. It is a field of study that fascinates me.

WAAAAAHHHHHH!!! An era has come to an end. With LO blessing, DH just loaded up the battery operated Jeep car to drop off at GW. That car has been such a big part of LO life the last couple of years, that I felt sad seeing it go. It is much MUCH too small for LO (and has been for a long time). As LO has grown, he learned to make adjustments in how he got into the car and where to put his legs in order to fit inside the car. It has been casually discussed for several months that the car is too small for him but he always found a way to make it work. LO recently reached a point that he is ready to give it to another child that can use it.

The Jeep car has been replace by an old LAWN MOWER >>>>insert clueless look<<<< LO went with DH a few weeks ago to visit at local mechanic shop (in back yard of a friend). There are about a dozen local fellas that gather in that shop every Saturday morning to discuss who-knows-what. ANYway, during a recent Saturday morning visit the guys decided LO needed a lawn mower to drive. One of the fellas had an old one and that started this current project......>>>>groan<<<< LO spent several hours watching/helping removed the deck/blade.....and rebuilding the back end...putting new tires on it. LO is absolutely thrilled with it and the process to get it going. I really don't want to know what this old lawn mower has cost us. I'm sure it is in the hundreds of dollars.....with more planning to be done to it in near future. Thinking logically this is a big mistake - it would have been easier to use that money to buy a new vehicle designed for kids. Thinking like a Nana.....it would have been safer to buy a vehicle with less power and more safety features built in. If my feelings on this subject are in any doubt......refer to clueless look and groan above. I can only hope this will turn out well.....and that LO will learn life lessons......with no trips to ER involved.

[BookSaver]

Good morning, villagers ~
I haven't been able to cuop for a few days, which always leaves me feeling out of touch with the group.

I have been peeking in very briefly each day to make sure we haven't had any site problems, and must compliment everyone who posts here for maintaining civility and friendliness. A few days ago I ran into somewhat ugly posts on a camping forum (of all places!) and thought yuk who needs this. To make it even sillier, they were arguing over how much or how little rain falls annually in Wyoming.

I like Twins'Mom's "not enough bandwidth," a very useful phrase.