Wowing ourselves on Wednesday

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

What can you do to Wow! yourself today?

You are strong, capable, creative, compassionate, people. It is important to remember that.

I'm sure, if you stopped to think about it, each day there is something noteworthy that you do. Blow your own horn today!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Harriet: Even if the scholarships are gone, would dd like the architectural program as a birthday present? (I have no idea how much these things costs but was just wondering.)

I'm up. Did not sleep well. Woke up at 5:30 and never fell asleep again despite being terribly tired. The parking lot below us was being plowed and every time the truck backs up the warning beep was disturbing me.

Long day today.

1. Work on the SHE Village - heads-up, there will be outages at some point this week. And probably without much warning since once I figure out how to do it, I'll want to get the behind-the-scenes work done quickly. You won't notice any difference at all, this is just a peace-of-mind for me before we leave and are away from internet for long periods of time.

2. Henna my hair this evening.

3. Presbytery committee meeting. Which will go better than the meeting MF* did yesterday. His was full of mocking of people for their regional personality traits and he was so uncomfortable he nearly left a few times. I told him he should have. On the plus side, while we were at dinner, another attendee called to talk to him about what happened so he isn't the only one seeing bad behaviour. Church people can be so badly behaved.

4. Continue to hope to get paperwork done.

One bright note, my new binoculars arrived. I wrote the company to ask what to do with the double vision ones and they didn't comment. I'll give them to my new minister who is blind in one eye. They should work very well for him and he's excited to have his very own pair that no-one else will want to use! I'm pleased to be able to repurpose a broken item.

That is probably my Wow! item of the day - thinking so far out of the box that a perfect solution becomes reality.

* MF is my acronym for Minister Friend. I was getting sick of writing it out and it makes it a bit less confusing since I have both a male minister and a male minister friend. I used to call him my former minister but we've had two since him so that doesn't work either. Plus, I'm not thinking of MF as a minister anymore (we agreed to drop that because we watched The Interview together and it would be just weird to watch that with a minister!) Since I always write out Music Friend, the fact that she shares initials with Minister Friend shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, someone questioned the initials the other day so I thought I'd explain. There will be a test on this at the end of the week!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Another Wow!

Just updated our data from the old accounting package to the new one. Wouldn't want to rush these things - I installed the new package back in August! The conversion of the data looks like it went fine. Not sure how I'll know for sure until I print off some reports.

And Wow! it was a lot easier than I anticipated.

So, although I'm not dressed yet, I have crossed a to-do item off my long pre-trip list. So Woot!

Breakfast is done so I'm off to s2s.

[helia]

I was the one who asked about MF - but I thought someone had used that to refer to HRH's friend? Maybe someone used another set of initials - and I was curious what they stood for. It is also very possible that I just misread; I often don't take the time to read carefully here and just skim posts.
Is HRH's friend gone now, Harriet?

I hope to wow myself today! My get together this morning has been moved to next week so I actually have an open chunk of time this week! I will wow myself if I don't waste it. . .

Repurposing a broken item to help someone - that does deserve a "Wow!" Kathryn.

Last night, I spent an ungodly amount of time booking a getaway for dh and me to Sedona, AZ. We're looking forward to it! I'm happy because I was able to talk dh down from the very expensive resorts, so we're spending less than I had originally thought. We're also flying in and out of Phoenix rather than Flagstaff, which cuts down on airfare too. We need a break. Dh especially needs a break. Between church stuff (he's embroiled in a big issue there) and work, he's really wearing himself out. I told him he shouldn't give up anything for Lent that was helpful to his daily life, like coffee, his first suggestion.

I've just done some of the basic morning stuff here - some emails and dog care, had a mug of tea, said good bye to dd16.

Next for me is finishing the a.m. routine.

Later:
- clean sheets on MBR bed
- prep for class today
- prep for class tomorrow
- make review sheet for quiz on Friday
- install test making software
- other items on my weekly list
- lunch
- work
- gym
- dinner: dd16 and I are eating leftovers since dh will be out at a work-related dinner.

[CathyS]

Hi everyone!

After a horrific drive home yesterday, I have today off. Very nice of the office to offer me the day off just in case this morning was going to be awful.

I decided to be creative today and pick up some cross stitch that needs to be done on a bit of a self imposed deadline.
I have not just one, but 2 wedding samplers to do. I want to give one to Wayne for a wedding gift.

I also have one the says "happiness" with the second in the series being "Love" and I would like to get them done this year. All four of these are relatively small.

I have a huge one of 3 Labradors that I would love to have done in time for Christmas. Another gift for Wayne. He had a very beloved dog that looks just like the yellow lab in the design.

So today I am not driving anywhere, even though it's nice out. I need a total non driving day.

[Harriet]

Yes, Kathryn, if she and her Daddy just say the word (and his worries are based on her maturity to be out on her own in a dorm situation) I will definitely pay for the program. Adjusted for length of time and the fact that it is 18 years later, it is close to the same cost of her sister's summer at Mt. Holyoke, which was a real bite-the-bullet thing for a 16-year-old, at several thousand dollars plus airfare. One week is as close as dd16 can get, given the little amount of summer she has available, so I am beginning to think this is an ideal work/instruction mix for her.

That's interesting that you and MF were talking about similar ... um... misstatements .. ... in a church/study setting, to those I encountered yesterday. Of course, co-teacher never promised anyone that she had had ministerial training; she is a layperson who offered to help. But she's a smart lady, aware that she is speaking in a responsible setting, on behalf of a church in a way. In that situation, well, we "watch our mouths", for want of a better way to say it.

Wows today? I hope to wow myself in preparation for dcousin's visit. Housework plans upcoming for that. I visited my colorist with marginal results this morning. Sigh. Discontinuation of products and inconsistency between colors of the same product are a disappointment, but I'm doing my best and therefore am wowed with my tenacity.

I am wowed on behalf of my ds29, sent 1300 miles this a.m. to accomplish an extremely responsible task for his workplace municipality. The city will be letting a million dollars go to this big custom purchase of fire equipment that will need to last more than 15 years. He's headed to a state no one in his family has ever even gotten the chance to see, unless his great-uncle saw Nebraska when he was stationed in Montana.

Cathy, let us know about the projects in the Arts, Crafts and Needlework thread.

[BookSaver]

Good morning, villagers ~
I've been having trouble making any progress on filing papers for the library and sewing groups. There is a library group meeting tonight, though, so that deadline should help me today.

DH and I had a very quiet day yesterday.
I called DMom last night to ask about this Saturday's birthday party for DAunt who is turning 80. (DMom is 86.) There will be enough people at the party that there probably won't be a chance for 1-on-1 chat with DMom, so it was good to check in with her and catch up on her news.

So far this morning:
* washed dishes
* finished drying a load of laundry, folded and put away
* started and completed a 2nd load of laundry
* deep cleaned the B water pitcher and changed out the filter
* 30 minutes decluttering, including time in DH's mancave looking for dirty dishes

Main goal today, other than organizing papers into 3-ring binders, will be to practice phrases and positive attitude when gently saying "no" tonight to library group member who wants to do another big fund-raiser in May. I think her idea will be fun to do sometime, but this May will be a terrible time to do it, for many reasons.

Harriet ~ According to the weather forecast I just saw, your DS should not run into precipation flying over Iowa today. No wet stuff, but bitterly cold again. Not for long, though -- "they" say ths weekend the temps are going to take a huge leap, possibly to 40*! That will be such a heat wave, I bet people will be running around outdoors without their coats.

[DeeClutter]

I had another night of good sleep!! I'll take as many of those as I can get! Slept till shortly after 5, went to the bathroom & crawled back into bed. Dh got up at 7 and I heard all that, then drifted off until 8:30. Harriet's right - sleep is wonderful!

Can you tell us what state ds is going to, Harriet? That's a lotta moolah. Know where that comes from though -dh was just mentioning the other day that the first ambulance he bought years ago was only $80,000 -hate to think what they are today. Hope dd can get in under the scholarship.

Such a difference between your dd16 and our gd16, Harriet. DD did say last night that her guardian is really bringing the hammer down on her now. Told her that she can either get her act together, if she wants to continue to stay there, OR the next step would be Teen Challenge until she's 17 and then military camp until she's 18. Can say that she's done pretty well for about a week I guess. But that's her history.

I haven't even eaten yet or had my coffee -so off I go -then on to some WOW's!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm s2s and have soaked my toes. Bought black nail polish last week and will use that for a pre-cruise pedicure (and then get a real one on the ship after we get settled on board.) I think Friday is pedicure day but today I used the heavy-duty cuticle remover in order to prep my toes. Did my finger cuticles at the same time. I should put on a layer of clear nail polish just to protect my nails for the next week. Once I'm on board, they'll grow like crazy (actually, I guess I'll stop breaking them so it just appears they are growing) but the stress of the next week will likely break a many of them, which is a shame.

I just remembered I have a service and sermon to write between now and Sunday. Will give that a bit more thought (used my time waiting for MF last night to read over my notes from the Saturday workshop which overlaps with what I think the sermon might be about.

[DeeClutter]

Wowing myself with setting up dates with people dh wants to see before he leaves (3 weeks from yesterday). Made a date for visiting and lunch with 2 dear friends (50 miles away) on the 16th and with 5 other friends about 45 miles in another direction for the 10th. Still have to chip out a time to go see my good friend getting cancer treatments. That's only a short drive but timing is tough. She has a lot of appointments and I'd had a cough and didn't want to be around her.

Finally managed to get breakfast done and now am sipping a cup of coffee. Going to chip away at the large bookcase in our room to see if I can empty that. Then I have things to put back in our closet. Trying to put all our photo albums & boxes into the closet -but up off the floor.

Need to call and change a couple of dr. appointments today. My appointment with the cataract surgeon is supposed to be May 19th, but since I'm not going north until June 5th or 6th, need to change that and the appointment with my own Dr.