The New Water Cooler
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The days are flying by. I haven't checked in since Saturday. Sunday was low key and I don't remember what I did that day. Work load is still light at work so I'm enjoying the reprieve. It won't last long.
Today I had my annual eye exam. My left eye has worsened and it's time for new glasses. It's getting to the point that I need them more than not. My eyes are dilated right now and I look like a demon from a scary movie.
I hope the KC trip goes well. What do they do there?
Our heat broke yesterday eve so it feels so much better here now. We've had rain off and on for two days.
Well NCIS, first of this season, is on so signing off to see what this season looks like.
Jenny0 -
see some of my shows started this week - haven't watched it yet - maybe tomorrow - Caleb and Bernie leave early for the KC field trip: Truman Library, WW1 museum, art museum, Union Station, Steamboat Arrabia (my favorite), and then in a hugely disappointing move by the school a Royals game instead of Worlds of Fun - we spend 9 years fundraising for their field trips I have spent thousands on crap for them and this is the year there isn't enough money - bah. Oh they are trying to sell it as - most families go to Worlds of Fun - but maybe not a Royals game. ummmm - going to Worlds of Fun is way better with your buddies than your family - oh well. Life's not fair - moving on.
My sister still looks like a zombie - she is still not sleeping more a couple of hours a night. Getting really worried about her.0 -
8th graders and drivers are off as of 0500 this morning - woot! I too of course got to be update at dark thirty to finish packing them and move them along. Normally when I am up that early at least I am done with work early - so this really feels like a long day!
Hope you are doing well.
Later dear J.0 -
We met with the roofing company yesterday to sign for a new roof after hail damage. They will do the work after our Michigan trip.
Today was training all day sitting in a crowded room. I went to boot camp class after work and sweated buckets.
Feeling poor. One car won't start, dog's surgery cost a lot, my car needs new tires, and we will have to pay a storage fee for camper for winter. Will I ever be able to retire? Feeling bummed out.
Hope KC trip goes well and they have fun. Is your sister sick? Does she take care of herself?
How are you?
Jenny0 -
going - a spider crawled out of my blanket last night and I screamed like I was being chased by a serial killer - only the dog came to investigate - then the dog got me up four times last night and the cat darted outside at 5 a.m. this morning. Ugh.
I feel you on the money suck - Sylvan is very expensive - like more than the tuition I pay for Caleb at ILS - so I had that, my medical tests and all that country club nonsense - I am happy for the golf part of it - but the other stupid fees are pissing me off. And draining my extra cash
My sis isn't sick, just exhausted - she has also been I guess having insomnia - waking up at 2:30 or 3 and can't fall back asleep - and her life is crazy busy anyway - I think maybe it is her response to baby girl going to college - she didn't do the emotional before it happened - and I think it is partly manifesting like this -0 -
Luckily, the car expense was only in the $400's. Expensive but could have been worse. Storage for camper will be in $200's for season because it will be outside, not in a building. We purchased a cover ($200's) so all in $400's. Some places cost more.
Wow! Sylvan must cost a lot. Worth it if it helps Zach to develop study habits that will take him far in life. As parents we do what we can to give our kids the advantages they need to succeed.
How was KC trip?
I need to get out of my robe, get dressed and accomplish something today. I need a new pair of jeans, need to put some things in the camper and arrange things for our trip, and bake an apple pie (bought a crust and will make filling).
Maggie, dog, is getting restless with being confined behind a gate. She gets her stitches out and cone off tomorrow afternoon but will still need to be confined to limit her activity. She's only 2 weeks post surgery and they map out a 6+week physical therapy and activity schedule for us to follow. Poor dog!
Well I must get dressed and start my day, it is 10:15am! Lots to do this week to get ready for MI trip next Saturday.
Have a nice Sunday!
Jenny0 -
terrible stuff unfolding from Vegas - prayers for all affected
having a hugely terrible allergy attack today - oh my
had my follow up at urologist - hoping he will get the culture back on the 'sample' and give me more antibiotics since that seemed to help the most - otherwise we get to try some of the more weird stuff - like physical therapy for the bladder, botox in the bladder - eesh
but I'm not ready to give up - because I don't feel great - so I probably will try some of the weird stuff
sounds like the trip was mostly good - Bernie had to room with the 'odd' boy - I'm guessing he's got some spectrum issues of some sort - while I don't necessarily expect Caleb to be friends with everyone I do try to preach kindness and to try to remember that especially starting next year his life is really going to get difficult - high school is hard for 'normal' - I try to remind myself too because the boy is such a difficult personality - the parents are too - just bizarre.0 -
This country is in crisis with mass shootings and no one will look to developing better mental health coverage and gun control. What's it going to take? Probably for a mass shooting of senators, governors or congressmen. Very sad!
I hope you get your antibiotics. It stinks to feel under the weather all the time.
I was one of those kids that would be friendly with the odd duck in my class because I felt bad that others teased them. My oldest son is that way too. His second grade teacher would assign him to work with the challenged child in the class. When a child is on the spectrum, often one of the parents has some red flags for the disorder too.
Well tomorrow night I will begin packing my clothes in the camper and going through my lists. Thursday night is a wedding shower after work. I won't stay long but will stop in. Final details and clean house Friday eve. We wake up early Saturday and take off for MI. It will be dark when we leave. At least 9 hours on the road the first day. A little shorter the second day. Hope all goes well (no flats, engine problems, etc.).
Happy Wednesday!
Jenny
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hope you have an amazing trip - how long will you be gone?
busy this week with meetings and junk - away football game tomorrow night and then a couple more practices a game next week and he's already done! He didn't really give me a straight answer on if he was glad he did football or if he is interested in doing it again - gonna keep me guessing
choir tonight and getting him packed for game, oh and hair color - which should make me happy, but it just takes so long (whiny voice)
have a great night.0 -
We leave on the 7th and arrive home on the 16th. Not sure how much access I will have to WiFi so I may not check in often or at all. Even when a campground says they have WiFi it may not be very good. I might be able to check in from my sister's house if hers is working. They live in a rural community and they don't always have speedy WiFi or good cell service.
That was a fast football season. Has C seemed happy playing?
I've noticed the color on my temples is already going back to gray. Those hairs are the most stubborn at absorbing color. I'm not scheduled again until December.
Well I have to start some laundry and begin sorting clothes I want to take on the trip and putting them in the camper. My lists are made but I need to start packing.
No students tomorrow or Friday for me, so easy days. Just meetings and desk work. I found out today I'm getting new students after our October break so I'll be a little more busy.
I'll check in again before we leave.
Jenny0 -
holy buckets of rain - football game should be quite a spectacle tonight -
hope you have a beautiful and relaxing vacation -
if wifi doesn't work - I will see you when you return.
HUGS!!0 -
Packed and ready to go. We will leave no later than 7am tomorrow morning. No idea how long it will take us to our evening stop to sleep. Hope all goes well. Pray that we have no mechanical problems, tire blow outs, crashes,.... We haven't traveled this far pulling the camper so I'm a little nervous.
Raining here and will do so on our travels tomorrow, yuk! Long day at work, came home and started packing clothes into the camper, cleaning the floor from last trip, going through checklists of things needed at camp site, threw food away from fridge and veggie basket, and now relaxing before bed. Russ vacuumed for me because I hate coming home to a dirty house. The dog hair was thick. Lots of dust but that can wait.
Do you have any big plans this weekend? More football? Great job getting those white pants so clean. White is so impractical for football pants. Most ridiculous color for the sport.
I'm taking my computer so hopefully will have WiFi access at campground and can check in.
Have a great weekend and week and I'll check in when I can.
Jenny0 -
Huge change in trip plans in the last minute before we were due to leave for MI. Russ and Rory were hooking up camper and checking brake system and the brakes on the camper locked up and weren't working properly. We determined we couldn't travel with the camper. Russ stayed home and Rory and I quickly threw our stuff in the car and left for the MI trip. We are both staying at my sisters and Russ is home figuring out what is wrong with the brake system. So disappointed! I can't imagine what happened to the brakes. We used it two weeks ago and they were fine. It's been in our driveway going no where.
So it rained the entire trip and there was road construction over 3/4's of the way. Torrential rains made for bad visibility. It took us 14 hours to get to my sister's. Yesterday was beautiful at 75 and sunny. Today over cast but not raining.
Hope you are having a good start to your week, Marla.
I'll check in again later in week. Russ and I are both so bummed out since this was the trip we looked forward to the most.
More later,
Jenny0 -
Wednesday and it's been a nice week so far. The leaves have not reached beautiful Fall color so I will have to see some on the drive home. I will see my two friends at the end of the week.They are busy so I will meet one for lunch and one for dinner. I've checked out a few camp grounds in the area for future reference. I also checked out a couple areas to consider for living if we decide to move here when we retire.
How is your week? The last football game? Is your sister more rested?
We are going to my sister's for dinner tonight. My brother hiked with Rory yesterday and they are hiking with my niece today to some beautiful trails and Lake Michigan overlooks. We are cooking side dishes and dessert for tonight's dinner.
Looks like rain is coming this morning. Hope it is sunny this afternoon for their hike. It is suppose to be nice.
Well hope all is well,
Jenny0 -
I am so sorry your vacation is not what you had hoped for or planned. That can be so disappointing! I'm glad you and Rory are making the best of things. Hopefully Russ can get there too?
The weather has been bi-polar - it has been so rainy, then finally Sunday it was gorgeous. Just gorgeous. Monday it went back to rainy and yesterday was 40 degrees and windy. So Caleb's last game was very cold. I didn't have any proper cold weather football gear for him - so he was pretty chilly - the 'a' team won (they were undefeated) but 'b' (Caleb's team) lost again. They ended 1 and 5 (or 6) - they put all the good players on 'a', made it tough for 'b' to compete - the one game they won was their first one with this little back who was really talented - of course then coaches pulled him to 'a'. Oh well. Disappointing, but definitely how sports go. I'm still not sure if he will do again, he probably doesn't know either - hopefully he sets his sights one way or another soon - because if he is not doing sports - he needs to do high school band which would also be good for him -
High school parent teacher conferences tonight. I think they should go ok - Zach's grades look good - but they always make me anxious.
Sis is still looking strung out - feel bad, but can't do anything but try to encourage her to take care of herself, talk things out and hope soon things will smooth out.
It feels like it should be Friday since Caleb had ball last night and all the other weeks they were playing on Thursday nights! **sniffs** it's only Wednesday!!
Here's hoping the rest of your vacay days are beautiful and fun.
Hugs!0 -
Just lost what I wrote so I will check in after I return to Minnesota. Too tired tonight.
Jenny0 -
Zach's conferences were great!!! I know it's still early and we have unending months and months to weather - but they.were.great!!!!
He is so into his electronics class, he wants to try to get into adv electronic next semester b/c that would allow him into advanced STEM classes next year. Unfortunately making that happen is probably impossible, b/c changing classes at this point would take an act of congress and he really only has one he could potentially get rid of - but still - woo hooo for thinking like - I am praying like crazy and even though it will hurt if he is disappointed- still hopeful that some stars will align and he can get adv electr - success builds success!!0 -
We are home. Rory and I drove all day yesterday and arrived home at 6pm. Long drive but didn't hit rain until 2 hours from home so that helped. Lazy day today. Sat around, read, and watched TV. No ambition, too tired.
Good to hear Z's conference went well and he's psyched about electronics. Why would it be difficult to get into advanced STEM classes? I know here they only take a certain number and siblings have priority. Is his school like that too?
We think there is a mouse under the kitchen sink. Russ doesn't want to deal with it tonight so it will keep banging around under there until tomorrow. We need some sticky traps. I'm tired or rodents getting in my house. We had a few clear years and now they must be back.
Glad I have this week off too. Not motivated to do much. I hope you are having a good week and weekend, Marla.
Night!
Jenny0 -
hope you have an enjoyable week home home week - good luck getting rid of the rodents
spiders have been getting in my place and the boys think its terribly funny I hate it - not that they will kill them for me because they are just as freaked by them -
our biggest hurdle for changing to adv electronics next semester is getting guidance to even consider reworking his schedule and if they do - there is likely only one class of adv elec and the odds of it fitting in to the only spot he'll have available are slim...
football is officially over, trying to get Caleb to keep active until bball starts so he keeps some of the fitness he gained during fb -
mostly pretty wrapped up with fiscal year end prep and all the crazy making that goes along with it
the weather has been beautiful the last few days though!
have a great one.0 -
I hope Z's class schedule works out. It's like completing a jig jaw puzzle as they move through their course selections. Is C excited for bball? Is Z going to play a winter sport?
Maggie is still recuperating from her surgery. Still penned in behind a gate on the area rug in the living room. She's going stir crazy but we want to follow the vet's directions and not risk injury to the repaired leg. This is the only chance she gets.
I washed some plastic bins Russ found in the garage as he cleaned it up this past week. I washed them out today and they are drying in the sun. Tomorrow I will go in the camper and pull out the last items we will store for the winter. I don't want things in there when it is being stored elsewhere. We have a spot in the garage for all camper items so we can load again in the spring.
Tonight I'm making goulash, salad and biscuits for dinner. Russ is working this week and is having a hard time getting back in to it.
Well I need to start browning meat and chopping mushrooms and onions.
Have a nice evening.
Jenny0 -
ugh, this week
draaaaggggggiiiinnnnnngggggg0 -
I'm feeling all out of sorts. I 'forgot' Zach at Sylvan Monday (thought Bernie was picking him up), I went to wrong place to pick up Caleb Tuesday. Just misunderstandings but make me feel embarrassed. Mostly because this was big sales meetings and gatherings for the Behlen Country team, Monday night they went out to dinner and Tuesday they all left early to go to Omaha and do an Escape room. My teammate H was invited to both b/c sales loves her and she does do a lot of interacting with them - I am also technically Behlen Country although I do 'central' work by doing things for all the business units - but because I am quiet and introverted and just sit and work, no invite. It's not even that I wanted to spend time with them, it just makes me feel left out and sad. Isn't that stupid. I wouldn't want to go, but I am feeling rejected because I wasn't asked. Meh. Stupid introverted, high sensitive personality.0
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TGIF dear friend -
going to go let my sisters dog out and then take Caleb out to lunch.
Have a beautiful weekend!0 -
I'm here, just busy. Camper empty and ready for storage. Russ will take it tomorrow.
Sorry you weren't included. Even if you don't want to go, it's nice to have someone extend the invite. Happens at work. People do something but don't ask others. You sound busy and stressed.
When Jeff was playing league football, I almost left Rory, 6 yrs at the time, at the field after a night game. I was ready to drive off when Russ asked where Rory was. We had driven separately. Juggling work and kid's schedules makes a person stressed and forgetful.
Relax this weekend.
Jenny0 -
man - I get a few hours off Friday and of course I spend the entirety of the weekend feeling like poo. Some cold or sinus junk. Lucky.me.0
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Zach is 17 today! Oy vay. Crazy stuff. I barely could get my brain wrapped about 16.
First high school choir concert tonight - his first in concert choir, hoping it goes well for him
still feel YUCKY0 -
still feel yucks
his concert was nice enough - I hate the new concert hall at the new school - the doors bang (no soft close) and the rows are weird - no curtains
but I could see on his face he was proud for being up there with the concert choir group (it's audition select) it was tough not making it last year - glad he did the work and tried again -
don't like that because the choir director at high school has added more music groups that means more concerts - which is a hassle, even if you aren't in all the groups you have to attend for grade and if you miss because you have other school activities (or just miss) you have to do a make up assignment - **rasberry** - I love music and want my kids to continue in it - but don't make it another homework assignment - they won't stay in it then - and who wants to go to 8 concerts a year (not me)0 -
Busy week! Sorry you got sick when you had a shorter work day. Bummer! 17! They grow fast don't they? Glad Z likes choir but I agree, don't add on homework and take away from the joy of singing and participating.
My sister who is overweight like me needs to have a knee replacement. When I was in MI, I finally got her to get the name of her friend's ortho doc so she could call and see him to discuss a plan for her knee. She will see him end of December and hopes to have the surgery late winter. She knows she should lose some weight before surgery and for prognosis of recovery of her knee after surgery. I suggested we both join WW's together and be accountable to one another. I'm doing the online WW's and she is going to go to a meeting near her house in Michigan. She's not internet savvy at all. I'm on day 4 of my WW journey. I weighed this morning since I have dinner and a play tonight. I wanted to see results so I would be good at the restaurant. I've lost over 3 pounds since Sunday (water weight I'm sure) but I'm on my way. My goal is 55 pounds for now. I would feel good if I could lose that much in the next 18 months. David's wedding in AK next Fall is also my motivation. I'm the heaviest I've ever been. So I've been busy logging on WW's app and Russ is cooking WW dinners for us.
Well I'm heading for home to get ready for the night out. We see Romeo and Juliet tonight. I'm planning to eat salmon or lettuce wraps, not sure yet.
Jenny0 -
congrats on joining WW and the early success!!!! I wish you much success. I had done WW after Zach - and honestly that was a lot of why I had got down - there is something about having to weigh in in front of someone every week that helped me - while I have had some success on my own, it's sporadic and I too have been pondering which way to go to 'get serious' again. I had to buy a bunch of pants again in another size up - I took all my smaller ones from a few years ago when I was exercising all the time out and put on a shelf. So disappointed in myself
Good luck and you can do this!!! Woo!0 -
fiscal year end auditors in today - always one of the worst days of the year... definitely trick - no treat
have a great weekend - I think I am finally coming out the other side of the yuck!0
