SHEs Organized

I was awakened by another of my puppy-litter dreams of the 101 size. Worry, losing control, but this time I had one person out of many standing around who would help me. It was Cramer, from Seinfeld. sigh. We managed to make a reasonable TEAM and help some, but it was touch and go, let me tell you. The huge plastic bowl for the puppies' water (which Cramer kept sloshing) was very red on the outside, so this was a colorized version.

HRH had a happy dream - one of those where you find whole other rooms in your house, you know? The house became like the Clampett mansion, and we had a different room for every hobby. I decided to listen to his!

lucylee, you had a good question last night and I don't know for sure, but I'm sure no matter which, that helia will be affected by this event.

The news from the Mediterranean earthquake has been disconcerting for me. I think I start believing I have a handle on the immensity of it and then the next news cycle, thousands more have been added to the terrible numbers.

Waiting for HRH to finish fixing his breakfast and then I think I'll go ahead and make oatmeal for myself. My routine of the last 6 or 7 months has been a bit upended lately, and if I feel hungry, I think I'll eat.

Round Robin through the house today, and Desk Day. Laundry is caught up.

Found the answer in a search, lucylee - helia is associated with the University of Michigan. She had mentioned that their "rival" (and I think it was Mich State), was 1.5 hours away.

The reason I didn't post more last night was that we had a team dropping off our dinner! They ate with us and visited some but it was obvious that dh wasn't up for much but going to bed. I really should have suggested they wait another day but left the decision up to dh who is always up for company, or so he believes. We hadn't even been home long when they arrived and it had been an unending round of fetching things for him, helping out, and taking care of dog needs. (He just told me that he thought it was the V from his office dropping off dinner, not A and V bringing dinner to eat with us and visiting.) There was so much going on once they told us he was going home.)

This morning I'm feeling super edgy already. The TV is on, he's parked in his chair. Right now he's on the phone and not talking to me. When he is talking to me it's super hard to filter through the TV and his phone conversations. (I'm feeling like I need a private cry - I am feeling so overstimulated right now with him talking.)

I'm going for five things for now.
-take out garbage
-empty dishwasher
-phone response to dog trainer re: invisible fence problems and a kind of snitty text from him
-figure out supper for us - do I need to go to store today?
-get my Fitbit paired with my phone again, somehow got unconnected


Oh, and I have a workout today. It will be good to get me out of the house alone but I'm not feeling enthusiastic about working out.

Happy Valentine Day wishes to each & everyone!
BTW - yesterday DD11 decided to research why it is called Valentine day. I was surprised to learn the background story of Valentine Day. Hint....it isn't all love and kindness related.

Harriet - Thank you for the start and encouragement for teamwork.

Food still has no appeal despite knowing I need more protein for recovery.

Maybe have a protein drink when you don't feel like eating but know your body needs nutrition.
Elizabeth - I hope your foot recovery continues with the minimum of discomfort.

DH and I didn't do too bad yesterday for a couple of elders. DH turns 70 in a couple of weeks. We managed to stay up with -
** Fence contractor on site all day
** Plumber here to repair busted water main line to the house
** Two types of schooling (Public & homeschool)
** Celebration of adoption x2. DH and I took both kids out to eat supper.
** Meeting with CPA
** 50 mile drive to DD11 counselor appt. This resulted in a decision to make two changes to DD11 daily activities. These changes are going to take 1-2 hours of my time each day. I'm going to be challenged to consistently do this but it is important, so I am going to give it my best effort.
** Grocery shopping at 2 places. This was a fairly big restock. The third row of seats was laid down and that area filled. Both second row of seats were filled too.
** DD11 picked out a lemon Bundt cake for the adoption celebration. This was before I knew that the other cakes would be possible.
** Red velvet Valentine cakes picked up from local baker at 8pm

I bought DH cracker jacks for his Valentine treat. We don't normally keep them in the house because they are a big temptation to overeat.

On the way home from dropping DD11 off at school this morning I stopped by the church and picked up 10lbs of meat to make chili for tomorrow night's meal. I'm making meatballs for today's elderberry spaghetti luncheon. I'm running short on time today, so I am using pre-made meatballs that just need to be cooked.

I'm up.

Tea and chocolate is consumed. I did one round of light therapy because today is bright, sunny, and WARM so I will get out no matter what.

Dinner tonight is slightly up in the air. Nice steak was planned but I have a hankering for roast beef so that might be my reason to get out, to walk to the store to buy the roast!

Poor dh is anxious to do something special but I'm still not able to relax and go out to dine (we do eat fast food because those restaurants are empty these days.) My reasoning is that restaurant servers don't get paid sick leave and so the chance of getting covid (or anything else) from someone who may still be contagious is higher. I don't begrudge anyone working, even if ill, there are no longer any safety nets for such people and the effects of Covid are most likely to be inconvenience, rather than life threatening. But if I do get sick, that eliminates dh's chance at surgery even if an unexpected slot came up. So, until March 19 (the last day I have anything really important to do that I can't be sick for), I remain masked inside in public, and fairly limited in my contacts, masked or otherwise (tomorrow is lunch with my childhood BFF at her home, just the two of us.)

That said, this morning a chance to attend an open rehearsal of the National Arts Centre has come up for March 1 so I'm jumping at that. I can't express how much I've missed hearing live music and open rehearsals are audiences of 100 or less in a hall that holds 1000s and being masked is easy there. So no risk, only joy. I just confirmed that dgs1.99 (at that point!) won't be moving in with us until later in the day (rehearsals are in the morning.)

Dgs1.99 is the other reason I can't get sick. He'll be here for 10 days and I'm both looking forward to this and dreading it. He's getting more clingy with his parents (he used to cry and reach for me when I'd hand him over to them, now he holds on tight to his parents and cries if he thinks they are leaving him behind when they come to get him.) So I worry he'll be miserable here, missing them. He also takes so much of my energy so right now I'm working hard to be able to be hardly working for those 10 days, just taking care of him and sleeping. I still need to cook many more meals ahead and bring in the frozen food he likes (chicken nuggets being #1) to make meals easier.

On the other hand, I love my time with him. We had fun at the museum yesterday. And something went wrong with his nap yesterday and he partially woke up feeling uncomfortable, and then fell fast asleep in my arms once I got him into a more comfortable position (he needed to be upright - I'm thinking ear infection). It was pure joy for me. I sat in my rocker, holding him all relaxed against me, thinking that I hope this is what heaven is like; a mixture of love and warmth and safety.

I need to get moving now. My brain isn't quite functioning yet, I think I overworked it over the past week, plus I had a lousy sleep (last night was hormone med night and I still haven't had time to get the new prescription that may not have this side effect.) I did really badly on Wordle this morning. I got it, but I was stuck thinking one thing so missed out on an easy-ish word I should have got in 4 or 5, not 6.

So my plan is to start with housework. I got the bare minimum done yesterday but today will be my house-blessing day. Plus I still have to clean up the toys from yesterday. Going straight from handing him off to a meeting (my alarm to prep for the meeting literally happened while ds was still chatting so I had to send him on his way) meant that the living room is still a mess of toys on the floor and papers and other "don't touch" items piled on the high surfaces, so I couldn't vacuum and dust even if I wanted to. Hopefully, getting those things tidied and making progress on the house work will kick my brain into gear for some afternoon productivity.

I was thinking about making spaghetti and meatballs for dh and I for tonight. I hate going out for meals on "holidays" and last Christmas kind of proved once again, that I hate crowded restaurants.

Dh got me a really nice card and a new pair of slippers. These are light pink with memory foam and they fit perfectly! I had chocolate for breakfast but only because I also got 3 small packets of chocolate.

Dishwasher has been emptied.

It's a gorgeous, sunny day here, even if it is colder than the past few days. A lot of local people are posting pictures of various spring stuff coming up in their gardens. I haven't looked too closely at ours. I think it only snowed 3 or 4 times all winter so far. Never enough to use the snow blower.

Invisible fence training people say to continue previously discussed training. I hope this works. I really need a good cry now, lol.

I'm struggling with focus this a.m. and will try to finish a.m. routine. Dh is taking a shower now - he needed it!

I had tears today when I was looking for a ring with red in it found it and my first wedding ring put it on boo - hood , I'd forgotten I had it sized to fit still does, I will wear it today after 46 yrs. that should be okay called my sis and that helped with the ddog here calling that and you gals my team.
[ I call Jesus my sweet heart now however. ]

Was feeling a bit rough but am better now a cough drop helped and coffee, one piece of chocolate was bfast.
Did some of my qt. journaling. Started a new prayer journal yesterday mostly wrote what I have been praying on and a answer or two.
Finished the one book on retirement I have been reading.
The other book will be done in a week if I say on track with it.

Have done zone inside window and mirror did that last night.
I have to say that helped me feel on track.

I have shrimp for my dinner I am putting that here so I can come back and be reminded of it later.
Got dressed yea me.
Trash is at the curb.

Have a great day!

Funny you're having shrimp tonight, Nancy. I just put some frozen shrimp that expired in 2021 in the garbage. I needed to throw it out on a garbage day so it didn't stink up the garage. I guess it could have gone into the compost but it's at the street now.

Dh has sound off on TV, that has helped. We walked the dog a lap, him very slowly. And I'm finishing my breakfast.

I'm making progress, still haven't finished a.m. routine but I'm working on it.

I'm glad LadyM's stamina is holding up, I'm amazed by all that gets accomplished at your house.

Kathryn, the rehearsal sounds perfect for you - a way to enjoy the experience without so much risk. Based on the last three days, I think I'd be exhausted keeping up with dgs for long periods. Sleep when he does!

Supper in sounds good, Cathy. Restaurants are so busy tonight, and I wouldn't go out without a reservation. Waiting in a crowded area for a table is not my thing anymore.

I've hardly considered that it's Valentine's Day. My intent was to make dh's card over the weekend. He brought out one for me that he had already bought. He was planning to bowl tonight anyway and we would go out another time. Our supper now is grilled chicken, maybe baked sweet potato or Brussel sprouts roasted. He's supposed to be low fat diabetic now. We're getting burned out on sweet potatoes but I don't have any winter squash to roast. I do have some carrots but they're pretty old.

Well my day sort of turned on a dime. Thought today was my DAR meeting. Got up, did my morning routines, and then some. Took a shower,, did my hair and put on some makeup and was ready to get dressed when I got an uneasy feeling that I got my dates mixed up. Sure did, the meeting is next week, so I'm going to be looking pretty snazzy going to the grocery store

As for teamwork, I can always count on Sweetie to help when ever needed. Yesterday I bought some new large planters. He put them in the trunk for me when were were finished at HD and then carried them to my flowerbed once I got home. The other day I bought more potting soil and he did the same with that. And just this morning I asked him to reinstall the wire filters that are over the stove for me.

I know he won't have a Valentines Day card for me because he doesn't drive any more, so he didn't have the opportunity to buy one for me. That's ok because I don't need a card to know he loves me!

However, I did have some exciting news for me this morning. 2,3 and Me let me know I have some new found relatives. Took a look and most were very distant ones. But...when looking at the tree they had made for me, I recognized a name. A while back I contacted a person that I went to high school with. She moved and was in my sophomore class and somehow my dad knew about it. He told me she was my cousin, but couldn't tell me how we were connected. Anyway she didn't know anything but thought her brother might, so I started talking to him. We came to a dead end, although I did start trying to trace back his family tree. 2,3 and Me solved the puzzle. We are 3rd cousins and share the same 2nd great grand parents. Unfortunately, the site shows the connection, but not the names, so it looks like I will be going on a hunt down the rabbit hole.

I just sent him an email and told him the news and asked him to ask any of his living relatives if they had any information they could share. I know the connection has to be on my father's fathers side, because my cousin on my dad's mother's side has already done our tree...so to be continued

Ladym...so glad your dd's counselor is helping and you are open to her suggestions. Your DD is a lucky girl to have you on her side!

Continued well wishes to all that need it, including Elizabeth with her foot. Nancy, take care of yourself as well today!