Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Yesterday was a great day with family - all arrivals and food preparation went off without a hitch. I am very tired though.

My nephew's wife was telling us about her adjustments to life after breast cancer. She is having very significant hot flashes and lots of emotional ups and downs. Sounds like hormone related but also that some of the emotions were deferred while she was under treatment. We encouraged her to let the feelings out and keep participating in her support groups. Now that her hair is coming back she is starting to worry about weight gain from Tamoxifen. I'm sure you can relate DD.

This morning DS is feeding the entire crew breakfast then we all disburse mid-morning. I have to drive 90 minutes away for a CT scan for my surgeon to plan surgery, then after returning home drive with DH to his home an hour away to put his car away for the rest of the winter. Tonight we meet friends of DH for dinner. No real rest today for the weary. I am kind of looking forward to a quiet house for our last day and a half.

Have a relaxing day after Christmas!

Aside from nearly having the fire department join us for dinner due to the lack of kitchen ventilation, dinner was fabulous if I do say so myself! Christmas stockings went fine and we all were happy. Football was watched, Kirby was noisy. I ordered a citronella bark collar which worked well for our other dogs in deterring the behavior. Ignoring him as the trainer suggested then rewarding when he's quiet doesn't seem to work. And his bark sets off my "loud environment over 90db" on my iWatch across the room. On the doggy wins side of things, he let me sleep until 7:15.

The bug guy is coming today to spray different stuff than the last bug guy sprayed and to do powders of some sort.

It's a gorgeous day today here, headed to the low 50s. Warmer than normal, but welcome.

Take care everyone!

Back home again after spending the night at my parents house with my son. He is so very kind and patient with his grandparents, it is sweet to watch. I'm so proud of the man he has become.

DD is turning the corner. Today is the first day instead of waking up worse, she feels a bit better. It's one neck of a virus she's fighting.

It was 50 degrees and rained and rained yesterday. The estimate was that it would have been 10-12 inches had it been snow. I'll take my precipitation in drip form. My parents lake has no ice. Last night I kept hearing noises from the lake and I thought who is out on the lake? (Normally it would be ice houses for fishing). Did someone actually put their boat in? Then I realized it was the geese and swans. As long as there is open water, they'll stay. My Dad said they were calling so much, because they could tell the wind was going to shift.

One of DSs high school friends is in town visiting his grandparents. DS went to pick him up, and he's going to spend the night with us.I love when my kid's friends come over. Some of their friends are from early grade school, so we've known them a long time. Part of the extended family in some ways.

We need more friends over here to eat up all the sweets that have accumulated. My SIL sent home an entire cake with my DH when he was leaving last night!

Lots of leftovers at my house too but mostly meat and veggies. DD gave away the rest of the cake.

I'm glad your DD is recovering. Apparently DH's granddaughter was also too sick with a virus to go to her other grandparents on Christmas. I guess there are a lot of bugs going around everywhere.

Meat and veggies sound great. DH bought a veggie tray, which is unopened. I think I'll have some of those, and maybe make myself an egg or something with protein.

I actually dropped a few pounds over Christmas. That's a nice change!

Had kids ranging in age from 1st to 6th grade here today to play with puppies. So good for the pups to have contact with kids prior to leaving. Teaching does have unforeseen perks like this!

Other than tthe puppy visits, NOTHING else is on the schedule. I like that very, very much! We already planned dinner and with nothing pressing I feel relaxed. That's nice for a change. The anxiety head rears lately have taken a bit of a toll.....

I think it may just be nap time!

OMG, you teach kids probably their favorite subject, Music, and then invite them to play with puppies? The rest of us are simply no where near your league. :)

Full disclosure - I work with their moms! One mom is a fellow music teacher. The other is a science teacher at one of my schools. I have had all the kids in music, though.

Greetinngs all

Today was scrabble day. An especially fun time even though I lost two and won the last one by one point. Just can't seem to beat The Shark who was wearing a Santa hat. Then it was off to errands to pick up and sign payroll.

Christmas was lovely. Eight people who are the usual suspects. But we sure are getting old. One woman is 90 and used to be a vibrant fun person but has been slipping recently. She was pretty good when she arrived but after dinner she took some paper napkins and wrapped up a dessert plate and put it in her purse. This is from a beautifully set table. Her husband tried to gently discourage her but no dice. After we left the table she also tried the same thing with the butter dish with butter on it. That got removed. But I think some silverware made it home with her. It was also difficult to get her to come sit in the living room to open gifts. She was a bit combative. It's pretty sad. Her husband is younger but not physically well. They are well off but don't have any help due to her being uncooperative. But everyone else was in good spirits and jolly. The cool gift of the evening was a bunch of old MAD magazines from the 60's. We each got one. What a hoot!

Liz hope the scan went ok. 90 miles yuck.

DD glad your daughter is feeling a little better. Sick for holidays. No fun. Noisy geese! Yeah seems like they don't shut up unless they are eating. There are Aleutian geese here that graze in the cattle pastures and it's illegal to chase them away. What became of the cake?

Peps how fun to have a kid squad with pups. Good plan.

CC hoping the citronella works. Yeah pretty hard to treat train silence.

Today started sunny but we are now fogged in. For some reason I am chilly. Vegetable beef soup tonight!

Diane S

DD and DH had some cake, I had a little sliver, and yes, it was very good! I've offered it to DS and his friend, but they wanted Taco Bell and a beer, go figure. Kids these days...