First Sunday in January

[Lisa B.]

Good Day Ladies,

Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. - Mother Teresa

I hope I find you all well. Hugs to anyone who needs them.

Welcome to the first Sunday of 2014. I am trying to get back my mojo. I am also running a forum which has been taking up some time recently.

I also am scheduling time each day (even if its only 15minutes) to get some sewing done. DH allowed me to have a vintage Singer sewing machine which has an odour in the vinyl case but will be gone over time. I will close it each night with a small bowl of bicarbonate of soda in it to absorb smells, might even put a few drops of essential oil on a cloth and wipe the inside of it to try and assist with the odour.

I know I've been gone a while. We have moved to our house we bought. We are still unpacking boxes....down to the last 20/30 out of over 300 small boxes. We packed everything up into small manageable sized boxes. We've thrown out a ton of stuff already. Gave away loads. Still sorting out what we have.

[Lynlee]

Its good to see you here again LisaB.

Thank you for the Mother Teresa quote. And for the hug.

tonight
meeting - talked a while afterwards.
Still to do - desert then dishes. Change sheets? shower etc.
Might be more to do but I need to get my bedtimes back under control.

Tomorrow is last fine day for a few so need to get to washing underway earlier - Its easier if the things are gathered ready to go.

[OKay]

LisaB! It's good to see you posting. Would love to hear more about your current sewing project.

LYnlee - I hope you get a break in the hot weather.

I'm visiting the colorist. Waiting for the final 10 minutes before rinsing & condtioning.

OKay, Are you young enough that all that energy from so many youngsters running around don't wear you out, by the time you get back home?

I am 58 years old. Is that young or old? I don't get typically get wore out. Or if I do, it feels normal to me. .

Although, today will probably wear me out. Eight hours of sitting in a car isn't much fun (IMHO). Wonder how many hours LucyLee will be driving today?

[DeeClutter]

On my way to breakfast (in the kitchen) and then out the door to church. You amaze me, Okay, that you're up and going often long before us on the east coast!

Dh and dsonil went to the flea market this morning. Almost afraid to go see if they've left a 'mess' in the kitchen. Often do on flea market days -especially dsil. DD mentioned yesterday how much she is enjoying having the house ready for company and clean. It's very calming for one thing. "Mess creates stress". Nice thing is finally having the guest bathroom as just that and not the horrendous mess gd15 would make in there. Even have a candle warmer in there, making entry into the house very inviting.

Breakfast is ready. I'm off!

[OKay]

"Mess creates stress"

So true.

Looking forward to a CI from Kathryn. I wonder where she is?

Breakfast is quick & easy today. French Toast sticks, milk & OJ for the guys. Fiber bar, milk, OJ for me.

[Twins' Mom]

Yes, in agreement here!

Mess creates stress!

Have read the paper. Dh and ds are on the way to ATL to get him back to school. PODA for me:
-routines
-dinner prep
---veggie lasagne
---make challah?
---easy mediterranean dip
---fruit for dessert
-straighten up here
-trip to drugstore for dd
-grocery for whatever else is needed, and for a gluten free frozen entree of decent quality

At this point I have 16 including us, with two singles not responding and two couples not responding. One of the two is our friends whose dfather passed away this week so I wouldn't expect them, I think. We have a winter advisory this evening with rain to turn to snow late, but only 1 inch of snow predicted. I'm guessing that even tho we won't see much winter weather, some might cancel, or those not responding might not make it....

First round:
-breakfast
-meds, me + ddogs
-straighten GR room
-make the bed
-find my daytime bite guard

[Sadie]

Hello Dear Ladies,

We have snow this morning. It has coated everything with a light dusting.

Dson22 who has returned to work after his foot recovered helped me shop last night. It took us awhile as he cannot walk without a limp yet and I waited for his help to reach things.

Got the things to make a pot roast on Wednesday. It's a simple thing to make and simmer while I'm away. One Dson will be here with Dbrother so he'll keep an eye on it.

Work day for me. Last one for a couple of weeks.

Great day to all!

[Twins' Mom]

Sadie, is your surgery on Tuesday or Wednesday? There was some discussion yesterday...

This round:
-start challah - I was just planning to buy bread but OTOH it's so easy to make.
-go on to grocery store (with supposed winter weather, they will be busy today...)
-Throw on clothes before grocery
-walk the ddogs
-find instructions for the CPAP, I'm wondering if perhaps the plastic portion of the water reservoir wasn't meant to be washed in dishwasher?

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Super busy, didn't make time to post.

We arrived safely after a comfortable flight. Went to the bathroom (that was the only uncomfortable part of the flight - there was turbulence for the last hour so we couldn't get out of our seats!) Our luggage has just come down the shoot as we arrived in the baggage pickup spot. Picking up the rental car wasn't too much of an ordeal. It is a Chevy Cruz and isn't a bad car, just small. Two bags fit in the trunk, two in the back seat.

Finding the hotel was an ordeal. We drove past it 2 times but couldn't find an exit. The website says "phone for driving instructions" so apparently, they think they'll scare off potential clients if they say online how complicated it is to get to it. They are right! Certainly, Google maps makes it really tricky (there is also construction, container trucks due to the port, and it was dark by the time we arrived, all adding to the difficulty - the first time past, a truck had blocked our view of a sign telling us where to turn.)

There is an easier way to come and go and we learned that from the front desk.

Headed off for dinner at In N Out (not at our usual one) and then drove past some of the old neighbourhood at Signal Hill before driving down through the Hispanic neighbourhood on the other side of the Hill, an area we never went to when we'd summer in Long Beach (although the children from that neighbourhood were part of the summer lunch program that my kids would go to at the park by the library we'd frequent.) We stopped at a local grocery store for milk and water. The place smelled wonderful from the in-store bakery which confused me (it was about 7:30 and usually bakeries are done baking long before that) but on our way out I was drawn to huge displays of boxed baked goods and checked them out. They were "rosca de reyes" (King's Rings), Epiphany cakes for those that celebrate Epiphany. I don't celebrate Epiphany but do leave our decorations up until then. In all my rush to leave, taking down Christmas, I'd forgotten that Epiphany actually is Monday, not already passed.

I would have bought a cake for dinner on Monday night on the ship, but not sure how that would go over with the other passengers at my table. There is a little Baby Jesus baked into the cake and whoever finds the baby Jesus figurine is blessed and must take the figurine to the nearest church on February 2, Candlemas Day (Día de la Candelaria). In the Mexican culture, this person also has to throw a party and provide tamales and atole to the guests. Since we'll all be on the ship for Feb 2 as well, this might work. Hmmmmmm something to think about today....

Got back to the hotel and hung up our clothes so they won't be too wrinkled. My Tilley hat's brim got badly crushed and so I had to iron it. Of course it is now creased on the brim so I'm not sure how well it will hold up. I think that might be covered under warranty (not sure.) I have it sitting on a lamp shade at the moment and it looks fine. It is my only hat (except for a toque) for the trip so I'm worried about it being wrecked.

My tummy is still in knots. Ate fairly well but butter seemed to set me off (there were wonderful bread rolls at two meals) so I'm going to try and avoid butter and bread for the next while. Dinner (a burger) made me no worse than I already was. It could just be nerves but I was surprised to wake up still feeling punky.

Slept fairly well but woke up at 3 and 4 (6 & 7 home time.) Dozed until 7 this time. I'll be 'attending' church at my friend's church, listening in. Only 20 minutes to service starting so I'd better s2s quickly!

Sadie: if your computer has Windows 7, there is built-in speech recognition software so you could talk out posts in Notepad and then just cut and paste them into the SHE boards to make for less typing.

[Harriet]

I am so delighted to see LisaB - hope everyone in your family are well. And further delighted to hear of a new sewing machine. I know you are happy to be enjoying a new house and also glad to be finding things to let go and clear. What is your weather at this point in the year? We were chatting yesterday that Lynlee is laboring under an extreme heat wave. In US many stories of a blizzard-filled winter.

Lisa, also BookSaver just got a new-to-her sewing machine.

Sadie, that's good news that dson is able to get back to work, his foot healing.

Dee, what does Mr. DeeClutter think at this point about a trip? Dd's house sounds lovely.

Kathryn, I think I've heard of those little cakes. Did not know the full tradition of hosting others.

I will share with dd15 this morning that 3 of the homemakers here spontaneously broke into echoes of "Mess makes stress". I'm trying to show her that her stress levels can be eased through the school weeks if her room is calm and clear.