Starling Saturday @ TDD C&C

[FrenchFlybebe]

Triple Dog Dare!

Pick 3 things
Do them
Post your TaDas!

»»—-Cheers! WTG! Ygg!—-««

Don't think about it. Just do it!
~~ I Triple Dog Dare ya! ~~
Good Morning!
»»————　✼　————««

[FrenchFlybebe]

Starlings are medium-sized, very social songbirds with short tails, pointed wings and strong feet. The European Starling, which is common across Europe and has been introduced to North America, is glossy black with an iridescent sheen and pale speckles. They form large, noisy flocks and are famous for their spectacular “murmurations,” swirling aerial displays at dusk. Starlings are omnivorous and adaptable, feeding on insects, seeds and fruit.

Their “murmurations” — the huge, shifting clouds of thousands of birds at dusk — are so coordinated that scientists study them to understand how complex systems (like crowds, schools of fish, or even robot swarms) can move without collisions.

Starlings in North America are there because of one man’s literary enthusiasm. In 1890–91, a group in New York released about a hundred European Starlings in Central Park because they wanted every bird mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays to live in the U.S. Those birds thrived spectacularly; today there are over 200 million starlings across North America, all descended from that small introduced flock.
The guy was Eugene Schieffelin (1827–1906), a wealthy New York drug manufacturer and member of the American Acclimatization Society.
He released about 60 European Starlings in Central Park in 1890 and another 40 the next year.

[FrenchFlybebe]

◕‿◕ * * * Good Morning! * * * ◕‿◕

Another very busy week. MrNG started his training and was away for two days at Rennes, the largest city in Brittany. I'm totally not CUOP. I need to get both kids up and drive them to their sports classes. MrNG will drive me to the eye doc center first, I left my car there yesterday evening after my retina check - I got this opthalmologist appt at last !
I hope everyeone is fine, I will cuop at some point, probably during DS7's handball class.

TADA
up late
made tea
opened blinds in children's bedrooms

TODO
feed all of us
get all of us ready at 9.30 at the latest, drive to S----, also get my car back
Buy bread while there

[Kittykatt]

Good morning, FFB, and thank you for the start. Starlings are some of my favourite birds. There's a group that hang out in some trees where I often walk, and they do chatter noisily to each other.

Gma, good news about your DMum. Hopefully her mental capacity will pick up a bit now she'll be getting more outside stimulation again. I hope you enjoy your meal with Mr VKM. Matilda's food will take a few days to arrive, as it has to be ordered through the vet. Depending on her test results, (if crystals are definitely present, which of course we don't know yet) Petplan may pay a contribution towards the cost! But the most important thing is that it helps her to feel more comfortable and reduces the frequency and intensity of future flare ups. She's now finished her pain relief and just having her bladder supplement, which the vet wants to continue indefinitely (apparently its effects are cumulative over time).

Dogged, you got lots done. You've remindede.I need to spend time doing admin things - I've let them slip this week. Maybe just making a brain dump type list of all I need to do would be a start?

I'm not sure what DH is doing today yet. I need to visit C at 10 am and take her Saturday paper to her. But after they the rest of the day should be mine. We are forecast rain, but on the off chance it stays dry I would like to pot the rest of my pansies. If DH is going out today, it would be a good opportunity to tackle a little more spring cleaning in the sitting room. Maybe I could find the special little.tool.amd.tifhten.all the joints in DH's chair, the foot rest and the sofa? Or may dexkutter and deep clean the sideboard? A.d maybe wash some curtains? All little.jibs in themselves, but together they add up.

[Kittykatt]

Brain dump for today:
In no particular order, just as I think of everything!
Morning supplement for Matilda
Evening supplement for Matilda (I'm going to list these separately until it becomes second nature)
Find menu for venue for October's parish lunch
Photocopy menu
Write/ print sign up sheet
Attach to menu
Put with my bag to take to church tomorrow
Email those people on mailing list for lunch and attach scanned copy of menu
Email DM re poster for Xmas lunch - apologise for late reply and explain
Email CM re chalice rota - apologise for late reply and explain
Create new SO to put a little aside each month for those irregular DDs (once or twice a year) that have been catching me out as I lose track
Work out how much I need to increase SO for SWW by, and amend accordingly (they have suggested a ridiculous figure )
Check DH has ordered new salt and pepper grinders (he wanted to do this! And I do appreciate the little efforts he makes to take some things off me when I've been feeling stressed and overwhelmed this week )
29/9 order HRT
1/ 10 set up new prepayment certificate
Receipts for DF PL
Survey for vet
Decant large bottle of shampoo into small bottle
Find new shower gel

Deep cleaning /decluttering:
Choose something (or more than one thing!) from list!
Tighten joints in chair
Ditto on footrest
Ditto on sofa
Wash sitting room curtains
Wash staircase curtains
Declutter and clean out sideboard
Brush a bit more wall and take down and clean another picture
Wash a bit more skirting board
Polish curtain rail

Autumn project of cleaning windows, flushing drainage channels, oiling hinges and greasing contact points:
Still to do - patio doors

[trissie]

Yay for DKitty not having bladder stones, kittykatt!
and even more yay for gma to finally be able to take her mom out today!
Frenchie, so I see MrNiceGuy was able to secure a place at the training program! Any news from your job applications? And how are the boys doing at school, I think you mentioned the evil teacher is no longer there, but is the new one better?

I am having a slow morning. Bit of sleep in, bit of reading in bed, and now a cuppa with computer. DH wants to get things done around the house today, and tomorrow we will all go to the cottage for one day.

Dogged - cottaging here is a cultural/historical phenomena that needs a bit of explaining. If you look at the map of Czech Republic, you may notice that it's kinda like a big basin surrounded by tall-ish mountains. The border regions were always pretty poor, with no big industry, and the population there was mixed to predominantly German. Munich agreement of 1938 led to the not-so-voluntary cession of these regions to Nazi Germany, which lead to forced exodus of the Czech part of the population from there. End of WW2 lead to forced exodus of the German inhabitants of the regions, and since not everybody returned, and with the socialist industrialization and urbanization, even more people moved from villages to towns and cities, and so these old permanent residence houses went very cheap. Add to that the fact that travelling abroad was pretty much prohibited, and that the secret police were everywhere and even your neighbours might be reporting on you, and you see why the city and town residents were so eager to buy and refurbish/rebuild an isolated house somewhere! By the 1980's, a full third of families in Prague (the capital) owned and another fourth had access to a cottage or cabin!
The distinction is actually important - a cottage is a former full time residence house, a cabin was built to serve as weekend house. So cottages are more likely to be useable all year round.
Our cottage is a complicated case. It's located in an old abandonded German village, and the foundations are from a 18th century farmhouse (it has stone arched cellars and all that). However, the building itself was torn down, and in the 1980's, a new cabin/cottage was built on these foundations. The new house has all the 1980's luxuries, like central heating (with a wood stove connected to radiators in every room), hot water shower, flushing toilet, and a nice kitchen (refurbished in the 2010's, so it has a dishwasher!) plus a nice fireplace in the living room, but the style of the building is not so... historical (I am not too happy with that, I'd prefer it fit better with its surroundings). So it's kinda a cottage and cabin at once!

[trissie]

And I've written a whole novella on cottages! But it's just one of the things that is "normal" to all of us, but may seem strange to residents of non-communist world

Anyway, now off to the daily program!

TaDas
- slow morning
- breakfast and coffee
- interne time
- dressed to shoes

ToDos
- morning routine
- 30 on general pick up / cleaning
- 30 in garden

Braindump
routines
- midday routine
- afternoon routine
- evening routine
food
- lunch
- dinner
- bake something sweet
- process apples
organization
- homework and backpacks
- DBD's speech therapy
- have DS chose lunches for next month (school offers three choices each day)
- 15 on filing
- find and pay water bill
cleaning
- clean office
- spiff up twins' room
- spiff up DBD's room
- spiff up DS13's room
- spiff up master bedroom
- spiff up master bathroom
- spiff up kitchen
- spiff up living room
- spiff up downstairs bathroom and hallways
laundry
- load of darks
- load of towels
- ironing
- folding
- mending
- laundry put away
me time
- 15 of exercise
- Bible study
- reading
House&Holidays
- week 1 deep cleaning - office
- week 2 deep cleaning - master bedroom
- week 3 deep cleaning - DBD's room
- week 1 Christmas tasks
- week 2 Christmas tasks
- week 3 Christmas tasks
- week 4 Christmas tasks
garden
- water veggie garden
- sow spinach
- repot salads
- gather fallen apples
- deadheading
- weeding in veggie garden
- deadhead roses
- weeding in front garden
- oil patio furniture
- tree and bushes pruning
- general pick up in garage
- general pick up around the house

[FrenchFlybebe]

trissie, thanks, it's very interesting. Not living in an ex-communist country, I had no idea. I understand more about the private "dachas" owned by wealthy Russian families now. In France it's usual for wealthy families especially in large cities to spend weekends "in the countryside" (en province, as opposed to Paris as "the only place where real people do real business") but that is related to the need for fresh air and birdsong after a whole week of urban traffic and smog. Also very interesting is your explanation about German people arriving and later leaving the villages. Now I have difficulty picturing a house built on old foundations and with a contemporary outlook on the outside..

kittykatt you're right about little jobs adding up. Otherwise what chances would be have of getting any real job done ... I hope the weather allows you some outdoors time.

MrNG stayed at the sports session and I drove back. Spent time doing nothing in an empty house. Now preparing a quick lunch for the hungry boys who are about to arrive any minute.
It's grey outside, but dry.

TADA
drove kids, bought bread
MrNG drove me to my car and I drove back
enjoyed some quiet
grated carrots

TODO
cook spinach, heat chicken nuggets for the meat eaters and maybe something else
kids to shower, lunch, clean up
make plans for the afternoon
at some point during the weekend : syncrhonize planners, do Zone work, cook ahead (MrNG needs some packed lunches now), homework...

[trissie]

Frenchie, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words!

this is what we have (notice the difference between the dreamy front and the 80's back)



and this would be the traditional style in the region:

[trissie]

And the wheels on the bus go round and round!

TaDas
- morning routine
- general pick up in master bedroom, master bathroom and office
- clean office
- replaced filter in vacuum cleaner
- checked old filter for vacuumed treasures (only a nerf gun bullet this time)
- load of darks
- sow spinach
- repot salads
- gather fallen apples
- some pick up around the house
- gather last tomatoes and bring them inside
- tomato plants put in compost
- gather last carrots, wash them
- label and put away yesterday's canned apples

ToDos
- lunch
- 15 on laundry
- 30 on general pick up

Braindump
routines
- midday routine
- afternoon routine
- evening routine
food
- dinner
- bake something sweet
- process apples
organization
- homework and backpacks
- DBD's speech therapy
- have DS chose lunches for next month (school offers three choices each day)
- 15 on filing
- find and pay water bill
cleaning
- spiff up twins' room
- spiff up DBD's room
- spiff up DS13's room
- spiff up master bedroom
- spiff up master bathroom
- spiff up kitchen
- spiff up living room
- spiff up downstairs bathroom and hallways
laundry
- load of towels
- ironing
- folding
- mending
- laundry put away
me time
- 15 of exercise
- Bible study
- reading
House&Holidays
- week 1 deep cleaning - office
- week 2 deep cleaning - master bedroom
- week 3 deep cleaning - DBD's room
- week 1 Christmas tasks
- week 2 Christmas tasks
- week 3 Christmas tasks
- week 4 Christmas tasks
garden
- water veggie garden
- deadheading
- weeding in veggie garden
- deadhead roses
- weeding in front garden
- oil patio furniture
- tree and bushes pruning
- general pick up in garage
- general pick up around the house