If only it was this easy! 😉

Sad that it's asumed you have to be an English major to recognize a double negative. But still very funny?

Tennis last night was really fun! I'll have a relaxing weekend, then ramp up with more tennis next week.

I hear your pain about sleep loss! The new puppy is a real jem, but he does need to go potty 2 - 3 times a night. Fortunately he does his thing super fast and settles right back down again in his crate. I take longer to settle down. 😉 I've been missing out on my morning dog walk as dh lets me sleep in and he take the dogs. So I'm feeling a little slugging overall. And trying to focus on work is challenging.

That's fantastic news!! So happy for you and your family. Will the school locations work out now with the timing of this sale? I can't remember whether you ds had to change schools or not. All the best with the move!

I did a lot of playing with baby puppy, as well as throwing the frisbee for the older pup. Then dh and I played 2 hrs of mixed doubles tennis this evening. I'll be resting up from tennis until Monday. I'll try to do some bike riding or perhaps a canoe paddle over the weekend.

Thanks for the update! That is pretty exciting for you to be homeschooling again. Hope you all have a wonderful year!

Thanks for the update! It's really nice to see your dd communicating well with her manager, and the manager providing flexibility. Hopefully things will improve going forward. It's a really great learning opportunity for youth to begin managing how to balance their academics, activities and work. They'll be doing this for many years to come.

My parents bought season tickets to our city football team one year, but the seats were so far away from the field that I brought a transister radio to listen to the radio broadcast of the game so I would know when the plays began, ended, and what the penalties actually were. "Nose bleed" seats are the worst in football!! 😂

Still mostly getting in daily dog walks, though skipped it this morning as the new puppy kept me up a little with midnight potty breaks. He's SO stinkin' cute and really good about going potty outside on the grass! I'll play mixed doubles tennis for 2 hrs tonight and again tomorrow night. It's still really hot and humid (relative to our northern location). 😉 I'm keeping my mid-day activities indoors, and opting for outdoors in the morning and evening. On the hamstring/hip pain front, I visited my dr yesterday and she thinks it's probably gluteal tendons micro-tears and possibly calcification. I'm getting an u/s and x-ray done to find out more. Then I'll likely go with physiotherapy. In the meantime, I'm to stretch while warmed up. I'm pretty happy with this information. It was really good to pinpoint the actual source of the pain, and rule out a lot of other potential things. 🙂

Some jobs just can't be done from online!

NOOOOO! Winter, just wait another few months. I want more summer!

We do/did our own gardening, landscaping and pool maintenance. We definitely hired out for roof replacement, though dh was keen to try. Fortunately he realized that it made way more sense to get others to do this and save himself the potential of falling and killing himself. I agree with PP about how and why prospective buyers have the means to contact the OP directly. That seems very strange. Perhaps these questions are coming through the realtor, and if so I'd let her provide all the recommendations she feels like doing. That would be her job, not mine until the house is actually sold.

Absolutely it's impossible to follow this game! I was a trainer for a high school football team one season and did a lot of ankle taping, etc. Even at field level, there are so many bodies out there in close formations, with players actively "hiding" the ball to prevent it being ripped out of their hands, that visibly seeing the ball is not going to be possible much of the time. If you enjoy seeing the ball, watch a sport like tennis. It's great for that. And there is the huge bonus that someone's neck is not going to get broken from getting crushed by another player. 😉

I totally agree with the PP about starting a conversation with your dh about your stress. You don't have to mention the dream topics at all, as they are likely simply a product of the stress you are feeling. You certainly don't need to pile more stress onto yourself by worrying about the direction your dreams go. Asking your dh about his stress levels is also a wonderful idea. It's his mom in the hospital, and talking openly about how you are both stressed can ease the tension.

I remember a few days when *I* was the one who didn't want to do any work, and I'd pile the dc into the van to go play in the woods. A good homeschooling friend of mine recommended her method of "school in Starbucks," so mommy could get all the caffeine she needed, while the dc got tasters of whip cream with a splash of hot chocolate. Livin' the dream! 😄

Yes, I'm definitely guilty of doing this. 😉

Hopefullly writing these feelings out and sharing them with others will help you heal. It is challenging navigating extended family relationships with all the history and bagage that comes along with it. Maybe the act of opening up your personal space, your home and time with your children, and being "rejected" over and over by your own mom is the knife that hurts the most. Don't let it drown out the lovely famiily you have right there, happy to spend time with you. Hugs

Hope you enjoy TKD! Don't worry about coordination. It's tough for all adult learners. There are a lot of very basic movements at the beginning, and you will have lots of repetitions to master them.

I don't know any of the ongoing history between you and your mom, but just in these few brief descriptions you've shared there seems to be a very consistent pattern of behaviour with your mom. This is who she is. She avoids family gatherings and then complains about missing out. That's her choice and you aren't going to change her behaviour. Were I you, I'd accept it, and simply continue to enjoy your special family moments. What are your actual options, that don't include you getting all upset? Pick her up from her home and forceably bring her over to your home? Force her to tell all her friends that she is the one choosing to not attend? You could devote a lot of time and energy into getting upset with expectations of actions you have no control over, with a woman who is essentially bad-mouthing you to her friends. She might have some great qualities, but being dependable and easy to get along with doesn't sound like they are in her play book. She is playing some other kind of games, that seems obvious. How embroiled are you willing to let yourself become?

This job doesn't sound like a good fit your your dd. She may have to quit if they choose not to accomodate her requests. That seems to be the way some businesses treat their young employees. It's good to recognize that and not have any false hopes that they'll provide the flexibility your dd wants.

It's still very hot, but I did manage things better today. Got in a dog walk in the woods with 3 million mosquitoes. Played ladies doubles tennis for 2 hrs in morning. I definitely lost some water weight doing that! It's hotter now than it reached in all of August. Crazy weather! 🤪

That's because they do! Upon returning to North American after 4 years in Norway, the living room displays in IKEA made me feel exactly like I was back in Norway.

Make sure you check in daily so we know you're ok. ☺️

I have several dc, and I had to find many little chores for them all to do. You could be a little creative and find some other things in the apartment that would be useful to have done, like tidying up closets, hanging the laundry, taking in the dry laundry, folding laundry, cleaning the fridge, etc. There must be something you can think. It doesn't have to be the dishwasher just because "that's what I decided before the houseguest came." That is kind of tunnel vision. ETA: I'm not implying that having a houseguest is easy. It's challenging, but I'm assuming that you aren't planning on kicking this woman out because she keeps emptying the dishwasher.