Oh the wrapping! It takes so much time. When the kids were young, dh used to stay up all night on the 24th wrapping while I was trying to get the kids to sleep. I like your idea of getting it done as you go. Of course that would require actually having presents early too lol.....

oh gosh, that's hard. Life & death go on, regardless of our holiday plans. I hope you find joy in the coming weeks and the extended family behaves.

ugh postal stuff! We had a postal strike here that ended just recently. I hope your gift isn't permanently lost...

I will look into that! Thanks. I know what you mean about the pain. I keep wondering what women did before antibiotics. Or in places where abx are not easily avail. I mean, it's an awful pain and most women get them...and for many it seems to get worse when you get older...

oooooh, a bookshop! I mentioned in another thread I'm binge watching Hallmark Christmas movies and you bookshop staff have amazing love stories at Christmas 😄

The provinces all do their own ratings so there's a spread. It's 14A for violence in BC. Some other provinces list gory scenes, mature subject matter. I think it's 14A pretty much in all the provinces except Ontario which gave it a PG. For our family I remember that 14A was often too much for our young teens when it was related to violence. ds & dh are going to see it on the 27th but I decided I wanted happy things so dd & I went to see Miss Bennet - Christmas at Pemberley (a local live theater production) instead. I think it sounds super heavy.

I checked her twitter, fb & instagram and there's no recent updates.

I'm cleaning baseboards with a magic eraser in between posting. It's not really a priority item but otoh, the baseboards have been bugging me and it's a smallish, tangible thing that I can get done in little spurts of activity...

omg, selling house & getting ready to move! That is a lot! The closest we got to that level of kerfuffle is we had Christmas during a DIY kitchen reno one year. The stove wasn't hooked up. We ended up cooking on the camping stove in the garage...

you're a superwoman. Or just a tiny bit crazy. Or both 😄

Sorry to hear you're not feeling well either. That feeling of dragging yourself through fatigue is awful. I'm sure it will all come together at the end - because it always does, right? And fwiw, candle light and dimmed lights go a long way to hiding messy houses lol .

Is it just me that's doing an eye roll? I mean, I get it. Yeah, it could be dangerous. Yes, one toddler died because parents left it on and put the child in a crib & that is a tragedy. But surely the real dangers are cars, guns, parents. 450 kids under 5 are murdered by their parents every year. Should there be a gov't report saying "we have received a report of the danger of parents..." I mean the risks of so many other things are so much greater. Are the priorities in the right place?

bummer about work! Will you get time off after?

depending on the chemo, his skin might really be affected (most, but not all, chemotherapy drugs work on quickly replicating cells, which includes skin and the lining of the gi tract). Unscented gentle body wash & unscented skin lotion were very important for me during my chemo.

I'm so far behind it's getting ridiculous. We lost power yesterday for over 8h. No baking, no laundry, no cleaning - myself, dd & ds had all these house & meal prep things planned & we could do none of them. We played Carcassonne by candlelight instead, which was fun. And even more bonus, due to the wind storm that knocked out the power, there are tons of evergreen branches down with which to decorate. I have a uti (because that's always fun for holidays, right?). I finally started antibiotics today but I've been kind of moping along at half the energy for days because I thought it would clear up with home remedies. Ha. & not only do I not have presents bought yet - I don't even really have a list of presents yet. I'll be one of those people stumbling around a mall on Monday. We only do a few small things but they're supposed to be nice and meaningful & I'm not sure how I'll pull that off when I have no ideas, no time to order online and no energy to really explore a mall. How's everyone else doing?

thank you!!!!

Can you share this recipe pleeeeeaaaaaase? 🙂

Why not use imitation? Because taste-wise - esp in baked products - apparently the synthetic is just as good so I'm wondering if there's another reason to avoid it? https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/real-vanilla-extract-versus-imitation-vanilla-extract-baking-cookies-article

thanks for sharing that. The pastry is accidentally vegan & I can use vegan cream cheese .... I think this might be our 'cheesecake like thing' on the 24th. Yay!

Sorry to hear this. I have no info to share, just big hugs

It's ok to say "I can't do this". It's ok to say "this is too much for me". It's ok to say "I'm suffering and I'm not well and I cannot continue like this". Repeat it until your dh gets it. If he's so gung ho about homeschooling, maybe it's his turn to do it full time and you return to work outside of the home. Your kids don't have to get it, they just have to accept that that's how it is. You sound burned out. You have a large family and a lot on your plate. You could put them in school in January. Just sign them all up. It doesn't have to be forever, it could be just for now. You're a good mom. You'll be an even better mom when you can take care of yourself too.

Susan, I'll be thinking of you and your dh.

takeout curry 🙂 The current plan is that on the 24th we have company & will serve a sort of traditional Polish meal but with many alterations given that it's now vegan & low fat etc. Handmade (but not by me!) pierogi (potato & onion; mushroom); beet soup; potato casserole thingy; cabbage casserole thingy; roast mushrooms & a bunch of other odds and ends. The plan is to make enough of all this that we have enough to last us through the 26th so nobody has to cook again. We're just en famille on the 25th (yay!!!) and then we are bringing beets & pierogi to a lunch at SIL's on the 26th. Then we get a huge order of takeout vegan curry and have that for the next 3 days.

I'm always #teamkid Always. I don't know. Maybe that makes me one of those crazy indulgent parents but I always take kids' side, esp at first. Gradually, sometimes kid themselves goes "well to be fair, I did ___ so it was partly my fault etc" and then I say something like 'yeah, I guess. Still sucks tho'. But here, especially in this case where it sounds like the examiner is nuts? I'd say "hun, that examiner is nuts. You rock. She's not fair or reasonable." I'd probably stomp a bit too & make rude comments about her. & I agree with trying to find another place or figure out that examiner's schedule and book around them. (btw, I've never heard of being in the car during the exam. I don't think that's allowed here...I don't think I'd want to do it even if it was allowed. I'd be too nervous. Well, also I barf in the back seat of a car so there's that...lol)

If you don't want to cook, get a Field Roast. Add vegan mushroom gravy and just make sure the veg*n people get dibs first because I find in many buffets, the omnis eat up all the veg*n stuff. https://fieldroast.com/product-family/roasts-loaves/