Ignore this thread!

[Renai]

Yes. It's Alma Flor Ada and traditional tales. I'm not passing that up. You want it?

[Slache]

Yes. It's Alma Flor Ada and traditional tales. I'm not passing that up. You want it?

 

:party: :D I'm so glad to have shared that with you! We're not there yet.We're picking up Pio Peep from the library on Sunday. Thanks though! I wanna hear all about it!

[swellmomma]

I survived my whole week.  Today was better than yesterday.  Still long, still a ton to do and a 2.5 hour director meeting to top it all off. Glad to be home this evening.  I started clearing out and rearranging the cupboards in the kitchen while I cooked dinner.  Have so much on my to do list at work coming up it seems daunting but I can do this. During the meeting my former boss who is kind of technically in charge of all 3 programs now, commented several times about how great I am doing as a director given that I have only been at it for a month.  Now to spend the weekend catching up on chores and kids school work.  Monday night we head to the city right after work.  dd17 gets her braces off at 9am Tuesday morning.

[KrissiK]

Good job, Brandy! We knew you could do it! You're awesome!

[Slache]

For young Christian children http://fighterverses.com/the-verses/foundation-verses/

[Another Lynn]

Good Early Morning Saturday!  

 

Susan, wow, I'm seeing a new side of you.   :D   

 

I have acquired a few books for Christmas, but 13yo dd just informed me yesterday she would like the Artemis Fowl series for Christmas.   :eek:  (Not sure how many books are in that one.)

 

Hope everyone has a great day!  

 

 

[Slache]

So tired.

[Slache]

So did I! I got Dancer a vegetarian cookbook that hornblower recommended (but, I keep thinking I need to get her a reading book too), dh an audio New Testament, Gymnast a book of stories in Spanish, and myself WTM4. :D

I'm probably too late, but I love the look of this one. https://www.amazon.com/Historias-dormir-cuentos-preferidos-Spanish/dp/8415235240/ref=pd_sim_14_13?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=546V7VXREXQKXYX22VP9

 

I love the artwork and I thought she might appreciate it too.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Slache

[Susan in TN]

Goodorning!

 

Lynn, I don't think you are supposed to keep farmer's hours unless you are a farmer. And it's winter, so you should still be snuggled up in your warm bed.

 

We are going to the Boy Scout Country Breakfast this morning, fruit order pick-up at 11:00, and then ds12 and dd13 have choir performances at 2:00 and 7:30. Other than that I have to work on writing a family Christmas letter and help dh clean the basement closet.

 

Coffee!

Edited December 3, 2016 by Susan in TN

[Openhearted]

Good Morning!

 

Coffee!!

 

The dentist went well. Everyone has healthy teeth. :hurray:

 

Dh's birthday is on the 6th so I think I am fixing his birthday dinner and cake today.

 

My journal came yesterday. The pens the day before. Now I'm kinda afraid to write in it. I'm sure I will mess it up somehow. :D

 

Everyone have a fabulous day!

[Susan in TN]

My journal came yesterday. The pens the day before. Now I'm kinda afraid to write in it. I'm sure I will mess it up somehow. :D

 

 

Put a nice big scribble in there somewhere and get it over with. Pressure's off! :D

[Renai]

I'm probably too late, but I love the look of this one. https://www.amazon.com/Historias-dormir-cuentos-preferidos-Spanish/dp/8415235240/ref=pd_sim_14_13?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=546V7VXREXQKXYX22VP9

 

I love the artwork and I thought she might appreciate it too.

I've seen that one before, but don't remember why I rejected it. It may be because we already have translations and I wanted more original language.

[Junie]

Good morning!!

 

I was a good girl yesterday.  I got a mammogram and I stayed off of the $15 minimum wage thread.   :D

[AMJ]

I got the "something to read" part of Christmas shopping done. All series books for the kids. I'm sorry. I just can't hold up high standards anymore. I'll read aloud quality literature, but my kids just like to wallow in the muck with the Rainbow Fairies. Right now we're reading aloud "Mocassin Trail" which is a good book.

 

 

Brains need down time, too, and brain-candy books are just the thing.  They are just enough entertainment without making the brain absorb, learn, and process anything else.  Those sorts of reads let the brain rest for the most part, while still "exercising" the processes involved in deciphering the visual input from the page.

[AMJ]

  

It's 'cause I just love to mess with them. It doesn't seem to matter how ridiculous my story is, they just keep at it, thinking, for some reason, that I have fallen for the scam. And as long as they are on the phone with me, they can't contact anyone who might take them seriously. Dh doesn't care for it, but a girl's gotta have a little fun now and then, right?

 

One time I hung up on a guy (calling from the "Department of Justice") and he called right back and scolded me and asked why I'd hung up on him. And I said it was because everyone who works for the Department of Justice is an a**h***. And I hung up again.

 

I don't have caller I.D. on my home phone, so I can't really screen my calls. I hope the FBI isn't listening in. :D

 

 

The only problem with staying on the phone with such callers is that for every 10 or 30 seconds or so they keep you on the phone your "score" in their system goes up, which marks your number for even more calls.  Still, it can be very satisfying to mess with them, can't it?

 

I had a friend in college who was getting calls from the local prison.  She didn't know anyone there, but lonely prisoners would use their phone call allotment to call random numbers just to see if people would talk with them.  She understood this, and would talk for a few minutes whenever such a call came in.  This was before cell phones were so common, when that large thing Mulder carried in The X-Files was so unusual and impressive.

[AMJ]

Speaking of books, what books would you get for an 11yo boy and a 13yo girl that you really didn't know very well, but hope they might appreciate a good book for Christmas? Or maybe some other gift idea? I am stumped. Something that can be mailed.

 

I suppose I can get them gift cards or cash. Are there any nice ways to present/package a gift card or cash?

 

 

Amazon has nice tins in which to have gift cards packaged.  DH orders these in for birthday presents for the teen niblings, since so many of them have birthdays close together.

[AMJ]

I survived my whole week.  Today was better than yesterday.  Still long, still a ton to do and a 2.5 hour director meeting to top it all off. Glad to be home this evening.  I started clearing out and rearranging the cupboards in the kitchen while I cooked dinner.  Have so much on my to do list at work coming up it seems daunting but I can do this. During the meeting my former boss who is kind of technically in charge of all 3 programs now, commented several times about how great I am doing as a director given that I have only been at it for a month.  Now to spend the weekend catching up on chores and kids school work.  Monday night we head to the city right after work.  dd17 gets her braces off at 9am Tuesday morning.

 

 

Great job!  And congrats to your DD, too, for getting her braces off soon!

[AMJ]

Good morning!!

 

I was a good girl yesterday.  I got a mammogram and I stayed off of the $15 minimum wage thread.   :D

 

 

Good for you!

[Schadenfreude]

Good Morning!

 

Amazing super multi-tasker Brandy! We all new you could do it.

 

Yaay Dawn's family for awesome teeth and an early Happy Birthday to your dh.

 

:grouphug: Blessings, I hope you furry child feels better soon.

 

Junie, you go girl.

 

Today we are supposed to go to the nursing home with our AHG troop to decorate cookies with the residents. Since we all woke up still coughing and sneezing I think we will bow out.

[Another Lynn]

Goodorning!

 

Lynn, I don't think you are supposed to keep farmer's hours unless you are a farmer. And it's winter, so you should still be snuggled up in your warm bed.

 

We are going to the Boy Scout Country Breakfast this morning, fruit order pick-up at 11:00, and then ds12 and dd13 have choir performances at 2:00 and 7:30. Other than that I have to work on writing a family Christmas letter and help dh clean the basement closet.

 

Coffee!

Not farming. At a chess tournament. Having 2nd coffee now - that could be dangerous, lol.

[swellmomma]

Brains need down time, too, and brain-candy books are just the thing. They are just enough entertainment without making the brain absorb, learn, and process anything else. Those sorts of reads let the brain rest for the most part, while still "exercising" the processes involved in deciphering the visual input from the page.

I love brain candy. It us why i read young adult paranormal romance books. My brain needs down time and the predictive pattern of those books is just ths thing to give it via reading instead of watching tv shows.

[lanalouwho]

It is cold and wet outside, but nice and cozy inside. The boys and I are snuggled up reading Christmas-y books and the dogs keep stealing ornaments off my tree. The whole house smells like apple cider and pine tree.

[lanalouwho]

Looking at bullet journals makes me wish I was better at drawing. I think I might start working through the boys' preschool and kinder doodle books so I can learn. Because that's about my skill level.

 

Also, I am posting here and looking at bullet journals on Pinterest in order to avoid doing housework. I'm calling it 'me time' so I don't feel as guilty.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Good morning.

 

Time seems to go at a fast clip.  I go at a turtle's pace. 

[swellmomma]

Looking at bullet journals makes me wish I was better at drawing. I think I might start working through the boys' preschool and kinder doodle books so I can learn. Because that's about my skill level.

 

Also, I am posting here and looking at bullet journals on Pinterest in order to avoid doing housework. I'm calling it 'me time' so I don't feel as guilty.

I am not artistic but i think mine is pretty. I also have a board on pinterest dedicated to bullet journalling haha

[Slache]

I've been working with John on his drawing and mine has improved.

 

I have a bullet journal Pinterest board but it's utilitarian.

 

We did stockings today. We do St. Nick's Day but we do it on the weekend. :P

 

I don't read frivolous things. I prefer to lie in bed and do nothing with my eyes closed which I always thought was weird but it's very common for people with SPD.

[KrissiK]

Good Morning!

 

So, I got up at 7:15, threw on sweats, ran my fingers through my hair, grabbed a travel mug of COFFEE and ran to The Walmart. Early on a Saturday morning is THE time to shop at The Walmart. Of course I silently fafsa-ed the young mom with 2 little girls walking through The Walmart looking gorgeous at 7:30 on a Saturday morning with her jeggings and boots and casual yet perfect hair. 😒. But, I also had a good talk with the cashier who, when I asked if she had kids (she asked me about mine first) and she sadly said, "no" she and her husband were infertile. So, I encouraged her about adoption. You have to be delicate about those conversations, not everyone is ready. But I've had experience, so hopefully I do it right.

 

Now, cleaning up breakfast, cleaning the bathroom, putting away autumn decorations, putting up Christmas decorations and getting ready for the Dress Rehearsal for the Youth and Children's Christmas Program which is tomorrow and I am in charge of.

[Slache]

CC: Imma buy this for 2017. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B011MP1R1M?ref=aw_sitb_digital-text

 

It's quite short if you care to read the sample.

[prairiewindmomma]

Good morning, all. It's a chilly rainy morning here, and I LOVE it.  I'm shuffling around the house in a sweater and yoga pants and fluffy slippers with my hair back in a ponytail sipping herbal tea.  I spent the morning with my planner, outputting my brain, and I feel quite a bit better.

 

Ds is home early from his campout; they closed all of the hiking trails so he had nowhere to go but home.  My house is now filled with drying gear and the smell of campfire smoke.  :huh:   

 

I'm hoping to catch up on my filing soon.  I have about 14" of paper to go through.  After lunch plans, yay.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Everyone should go away.  They are irritating me.  I wonder if it would be weird if I got one of those tiny houses just for me and put it in the back yard? 

[Slache]

Everyone should go away. They are irritating me. I wonder if it would be weird if I got one of those tiny houses just for me and put it in the back yard?

Probably against city ordinances.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Probably against city ordinances.

 

City ordinances irritate me.

[Slache]

Matt's moving furniture so we have somewhere to put the tree. Our house is gross.

[KrissiK]

I'm very proud of myself. I got a roll of burlap ribbon from The Walmart and I watched a tutorial on you-tube for how to make a big bow and I stuck that to the top of a fake evergreen wreath, added some raffia and hung it on my door. It's a rustic Christmas thingie. I've never done "Rustic Christmas".

 

 

And it's a "Rustic Christmas Booya/h"

 

And a little music for your enjoyment...

"Go tell it on the Booya/h

Over the hills and every Booya/h!

Go! Tell it on the Booya/h!

A Booya/h Hooya/h Too-ya/h"

Edited December 3, 2016 by KrissiK

[AMJ]

I've been working with John on his drawing and mine has improved.

 

I have a bullet journal Pinterest board but it's utilitarian.

 

We did stockings today. We do St. Nick's Day but we do it on the weekend. :p

 

I don't read frivolous things. I prefer to lie in bed and do nothing with my eyes closed which I always thought was weird but it's very common for people with SPD.

 

 

One of my favorite things to do when I was younger was to either sit somewhere quiet or go walking someplace quiet and listen to the silence.  Yes, snow falling makes a sound, but you really have to listen to hear it.  I always thought the Northern Lights also made sound -- I could hear them singing -- and maybe they do at the angle from which I could see them in Minnesota.  But once I got to Fairbanks and watched them span the sky I found the display eerily silent.

 

It's also nice to just let my brain do nothing, no thinking, no processing, nothing.  Opportunities are very rare, but quite nice when they occur.  Living with permanent tinnitus means never getting to listen to the level of quiet I once could, but sometimes, if everything is just right, I can still come close.  If things are quiet enough I can still hear those faint sounds that are so often drowned out, like trees whispering in the faintest of breezes, or snow falling, or the quiet rush that comes just before a sudden rain shower.

[AMJ]

City ordinances irritate me.

 

 

Call it a shed and keep it within a certain size, then outfit it however you like.  There, tiny house for you!

[AMJ]

I'm very proud of myself. I got a roll of burlap ribbon from The Walmart and I watched a tutorial on you-tube for how to make a big bow and I stuck that to the top of a fake evergreen wreath, added some raffia and hung it on my door. It's a rustic Christmas thingie. I've never done "Rustic Christmas".

 

 

And it's a "Rustic Christmas Booya/h"

 

And a little music for your enjoyment...

"Go tell it on the Booya/h

Over the hills and every Booya/h!

Go! Tell it on the Booya/h!

A Booya/h Hooya/h Too-ya/h"

 

 

 

:hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:

[AMJ]

The girls had their music recital today.  We went to that, then went out to lunch with MIL & FIL (FIL treated).  It was quite a nice recital, and everyone did very well, even if some of them had pieces that were less than a minute long.  They worked hard on those pieces!

 

My two kids might have been newbies to this, but they held their own!  DD15 had a VERY long pause at the start of her piece -- her recorded accompaniment had technical difficulties.  She stood there calm and collected, however, and jumped right in as soon as the music started to play.

 

DD12 could barely be seen over the piano (from my vantage point), but her practice clearly paid off.  She ran right through quite nicely!

 

I only got irritated at one music teacher.  He was accompanying one of his students on the piano while his student, a girl maybe 8 years old, sang.  The man has no sense of volume -- he played LOUDLY, and kept drowning her out (and she had a microphone, too, that was already turned up quite a bit!).  She was determined, however, and managed to belt it out loud enough in parts to be heard from time to time.  She has a lovely voice, so I hope her parents and the other teachers talk to her teacher about toning it down next time.

 

I am very proud of my girls!

[prairiewindmomma]

I haven't made it to the filing cabinet. I'm still shoveling off my desk.

 

How do you guys track all of the homeschool organization stuff that comes with schooling multiple children? It was SO much easier when everyone was doing roughly the same thing, and I was coordinating it all.  My "to-prep" list is disorganized right now because I have no idea of how I should go about it....I think in part because there is the "to-buy" and "to prepare" "store until handover" components of it.  Like, it's December and I still haven't purchased a usb to download audiobooks to give to ds to read because I can't figure out the technical component of doing it. (hint: I am lame.)

[Critterfixer]

I worked. I libraried. Now I'm home and freezing. I'd like DH to build me a fire, but he cleaned the whole house today. Can't complain, you know! Imma think about what to fix for supper. 

I got some feedback from my beta reader who finished reading my second draft. We discussed one scene that I found very intense when I wrote it, and she said it was very visual, and then pointed out that she had goosebumps again just thinking about it. There's one scene I don't have to fix! :laugh: I think I have a workable template for scene index review for revision. I plan to type that up this evening and start trying it out next week or the week after that.

 

[Slache]

I am covered in mud and rain. It is two hours past lunchtime and 1 hour past quiet time. I am filthy, wet, starving and exhausted. But we have a tree.

[KrissiK]

I am covered in mud and rain. It is two hours past lunchtime and 1 hour past quiet time. I am filthy, wet, starving and exhausted. But we have a tree.

But at least you have a tree!

[Renai]

I'm very proud of myself. I got a roll of burlap ribbon from The Walmart and I watched a tutorial on you-tube for how to make a big bow and I stuck that to the top of a fake evergreen wreath, added some raffia and hung it on my door. It's a rustic Christmas thingie. I've never done "Rustic Christmas".

 

 

And it's a "Rustic Christmas Booya/h"

 

And a little music for your enjoyment...

"Go tell it on the Booya/h

Over the hills and every Booya/h!

Go! Tell it on the Booya/h!

A Booya/h Hooya/h Too-ya/h"

 

I guess it's that time of year for ITT carols, eh?

[Susan in TN]

Please remind me that if I want a closet or cupboard cleaned out/organized, that I should NOT, under any circumstances, ask dh to do it. I would send him out of the house to bring the kids to their evening concert and finish it myself if it weren't for the Surprise Drop-Off Former Neighbor Kids who appeared here a half hour ago. I refuse to spend 45 minutes talking to their dad when he comes to pick them up.

 

Just call me Oscar (the Grouch).

[Susan in TN]

The girls had their music recital today. We went to that, then went out to lunch with MIL & FIL (FIL treated). It was quite a nice recital, and everyone did very well, even if some of them had pieces that were less than a minute long. They worked hard on those pieces!

 

My two kids might have been newbies to this, but they held their own! DD15 had a VERY long pause at the start of her piece -- her recorded accompaniment had technical difficulties. She stood there calm and collected, however, and jumped right in as soon as the music started to play.

 

DD12 could barely be seen over the piano (from my vantage point), but her practice clearly paid off. She ran right through quite nicely!

 

I only got irritated at one music teacher. He was accompanying one of his students on the piano while his student, a girl maybe 8 years old, sang. The man has no sense of volume -- he played LOUDLY, and kept drowning her out (and she had a microphone, too, that was already turned up quite a bit!). She was determined, however, and managed to belt it out loud enough in parts to be heard from time to time. She has a lovely voice, so I hope her parents and the other teachers talk to her teacher about toning it down next time.

 

I am very proud of my girls!

Yay! They should be so proud of their hard work!

[Jean in Newcastle]

Call it a shed and keep it within a certain size, then outfit it however you like.  There, tiny house for you!

 

Our shed it outfitted in old junk and yard tools. 

[AMJ]

I am covered in mud and rain. It is two hours past lunchtime and 1 hour past quiet time. I am filthy, wet, starving and exhausted. But we have a tree.

 

 

Time for cocoa!

[AMJ]

Please remind me that if I want a closet or cupboard cleaned out/organized, that I should NOT, under any circumstances, ask dh to do it. I would send him out of the house to bring the kids to their evening concert and finish it myself if it weren't for the Surprise Drop-Off Former Neighbor Kids who appeared here a half hour ago. I refuse to spend 45 minutes talking to their dad when he comes to pick them up.

 

Just call me Oscar (the Grouch).

 

 

:grouphug:  :grouphug:

[AMJ]

Our shed it outfitted in old junk and yard tools. 

 

 

That would be your shed shed.  You need a second shed, just for you, with a cute window and porch and insulation and comfy stuff inside.  It is the "being outside in all kinds of weather" shed, the sanity shed.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Bunny bonding is going in spits and spurts.  It would go a lot better if dd didn't think that she knew everything and would just LISTEN to me.  She put the bunnies in the slippery tub yesterday because some stupid blog said to do it and as I predicted, the bunnies freaked out and attacked each other.  It was like a bunny cage match.  (Neither bunny was hurt as she grabbed them with towels to separate them.

 

Today we all sat calmly on the bathroom floor together.  I petted and petted a freaked out Rusty to calm him down.  There was a bit of biting from Bailey and retaliation by Rusty but it all calmed down. They lay down a couple of feet apart from each other and even sniffed each other once.   I felt like that was enough stress and that we should end on a good note and put them back in their cages.  Dd disagreed.  She got a bad bite as a result when a stressed out bunny went past his capacity and let her know it in no uncertain terms.