I'm checking in now because Jeff and Iva have invited us to their house for dinner tonight. I haven't been to the house since I helped paint the kitchen cabinets and I've heard they've done a lot. Anxious to see the improvements. Jeff wants his birth certificate that I still have in a file and we want to talk to him about being executor of our assets, etc. He doesn't know this yet. Surprise!

We went to dinner and the concert last night. It was fun! We had won the tickets in a silent auction when we went to a charitable fundraiser this past fall. The leader of the band also runs a foundation that feeds the hungry so he donated the tickets to the auction. It was his band that was playing a show called The Songs of Van Morrison. He's the lead vocalist. It was a small venue and a great band with pianos, horn section, guitar and bass, drummer, female vocals and the vocalist. We had dinner at Houlihan's. It was a late night (for us) when we got home (after 11). I was beat and went straight to bed.

Today is beautiful out. We walked the dogs for 50 minutes yesterday but the sidewalk was snowy and icy. It wasn't a fast pace but my legs felt it from having to take small steps and my body was tense. Sore muscles today. I finished the painting the two pieces of furniture and need to put some seal on them today. I used Cottage Paint so I want to protect the surface. I won't use this paint on the table and chairs when I paint them.

Shirley- When you get back from Jamaica it will be almost sailing season We heard Target was closing in Canada. Do you know why? Do people there prefer another big store better? Sorry your friend is losing her job. It takes a long time for them to close though so maybe she has several months of work left.

Amy- You are getting exercise shoveling too. Your arms must be strong. I was telling L that my mom was always making comments to me too about appearance. When her dementia advanced to not knowing us most of the time, those comments ceased. For awhile it was a relief to not hear them but it was also sad that she didn't know us to care. On one of my visits to Michigan to visit her several years into her illness, she made a judgmental comment on what I was wearing and said it something like "that isn't becoming on you" or "that doesn't look like something you would wear"... I was wearing a quarter zipper fleece top over a tank top and the zipper was only zipped half way. No cleavage or anything, LOL! Any way I was actually ecstatice that she made the comment because it felt like she was in there some where and recognized me. Who would have thought a negative comment would have made my day!

Ang- A friend made a cross stitch for my first born son and I made one for my second. I started the one for my 3rd son and never finished it. I wonder where it is? Nice of you to make those for others.

L- I agree with Amy. You look terrific (photos on Facebook)!

Well things to do....have a nice day!
Jenny

Jenny - Target came in and they came in to fast. I found their prices weren't the same as in the US and that Walmart was usually better. The quantity of the product was extremely low all of the time with a lot of empty shelves. They might have done better if they started out slower coming in. The funniest thing I find is that Sears is offering people at Target jobs when Target closes in the next 4-6 months. Sears is having their own struggles to stay afloat!

Amy - It's fine. It hurt for a couple of days and hasn't since. Not sure what I did to it that one day, but it hasn't happened since. (*fingers crossed*) We probably do have similar weather! Though you probably get a lot colder. We did have a bitter cold day on Saturday with the wind; however, right now it's above freezing and we are under a rainfall warning for tomorrow! The temperature will plummet well below freezing and then jump right back up and be above freezing only to drop back down by the next day. Really hate yo-yo temperatures!

Jenny and Shirley - I started doing cross-stitch when I was 10, so I've been doing it for 25 years now. Though I got out of it for awhile. I have a few that I did that I kept for myself. (Mostly all cat ones!) I will have to see about taking pictures and posting them.

I had a nice surprise at church today! One of my second cousins, that I haven't seen since he was probably not even in school yet, was there! Apparently he was in the city looking at colleges. Colleges!!!!! I would never have recognized him! One of the ladies in my church had to introduce me to my own cousin!

Well I need to take care of my supper dishes and then I need to get to bed! I am bound and determined to get back into my morning exercise routine! I planned on that today, but when you go to bed at 1am......... Oh well! Tomorrow is a new day! Time to workout and time to start dealing with my procrastination issue!

terrible start to the day today ! my oncall work phone woke me up at 6:20 - I'm supposed to be at work at 6am I had to jump up ,get dressed and go ! How embarrassing .
- I'm now having one of my stupid days where I have to check everything twice because I keep messing every thing up lol.
- Oh well tomorrow is a new day .

Good Morning everyone ,
Work ,Work, Work today lol . I had 20 men sign in for drug tests between 0600 and 0645 ! and One scheduled for a fit test and lung test ! OMG it was busy this morning Thank Goodness Today wasn't the day I over slept . It would have been awful ! But boy did those first few hours fly by .

Amy

didn't get home until almost 10 last night so a very short night - but both of the boys teams came away with a win (oh thank goodness at least they got one) - and Caleb made his first game bucket at the JV game - very exciting.

hair color this afternoon (way overdue) and Zach has drama club, weights at the high school and Caleb has ball training with Jack - phew - at least after that it will be quiet for the rest of the evening - the next few weeks are going to be hair raising - roundball tourney is sounding to be mammoth - there are over 250 rsvp'd for the banquet on Saturday night so there will be that many and MORE that are filtering in and out of school for the two day tourney - I'm exhausted just thinking about all the concession time, gate fee collection, board running, cleaning, etc that is going to be required. Plus making sure my house is hospitable for 4-6 boys to sleep and eat breakfast Sat night/Sun am. Yowza.

have been trying various protein bars and drinks with Zach to find something he will willingly eat because I have been very concerned about all his 'eating light' - I'm like eating light is one thing - but you can't run for two solid hours (back to back games) on half a granola bar. You've also got a growth spurt coming for you anyday now and you gotta feed it - so I've got one who I am fighting with to eat more and one (Caleb definitely on the thick side right now) I worry about eating too much. Anyway - he hated all the bars he tried - but really likes one of the drinks and has been drinking the heck out of something called core power - of course it was the most expensive thing I picked up - meh - I wonder if I can recreate it with vanilla protein powder and strawberries? Prolly not.

L - camping is what Bernie taught me to yell (b/c I listened to him do it a lot last year) is for when they are over in the lane for more than three seconds - here is the official definition...Three seconds: No part of an offensive player may remain in the free throw lane for more than three consecutive seconds unless the ball is being shot. If the shot hits the rim, the player standing in the lane gets a new three seconds. Thus if you happen to be camping out in the lane for two seconds and the shot hits the rim, you may remain in the lane for another three seconds.
After a player steps out of the lane, the count resets, and she can re-enter the lane for another three seconds. A player can go in and out of the lane as often as she likes. I like box out too - not yet fully onto when to yell that one - it seems like after free throws I hear it - oh and 'crash the boards!' - my favorite was from their first year when one of the boys was being basically hugged hunched over from behind - was one of the dads yelling, "It's not date night - you gonna call that?"

and it was really awesome to Caleb sink one last night - I don't think Zach shot at all his first year - it just started to become a thing and then it was like he 'couldn't' do it in his mind - he's (Zach) is just starting to loosen up and be willing to take shots. Caleb just went out there and pretty much everytime they fed him he turned at shot. He probably missed three others but they were all right there - he even pulled a two shot foul - he missed both but they both tapped the rim - freakin' awesome! that sounds weird to be excited about shooting and missing - but I AM! :>)

Jenny - I think it is a social pressure thing - although (and a month ago I would never had said this made me happy) last night he ate dinner and then five minutes later had a sandwich and about 20 after that started in on the pretzels - and the last of the cookies.

they weather is quite warm again - they are putting in new carpet in the office and what a goatfook - they've been at it all week and have only just gotten the one area the transportation div is - they were supposedly going to have the whole west end done by now - ha. we have to somehow move our stuff out of the area (who the heck knows how we are supposed to get our work done) - take all the cubicle wall down or jack them up and then let them do their thing - the fumes from the glue is making me sick and crabby and we are looking at probably at least two more weeks or more of this. Nightmare.

I think Zach has enjoyed starting weight training at the high school but he is certainly unused to the way the kids talk over there. There's a whole lot of f'bombs mom! With his eye wide. Yeah - that is one of many things that will be a culture shock for you guys. Not that he has never heard those words before and probably even said them occasionally - but definitely not casually like he will hear. It's disciplinary action if they do it at school now - the social learning curve will be steep - but I still don't regret keeping them sheltered for as long as I could.

shirley - cute blanket! I'm guessing she is doing a sock monkey theme? You can always work on some vocalizing exercises to see if that would get you more comfortable in the higher range - or just drop out on the notes that stretch you too much.

l - your tomato concoction sounds really good! I have to get my plan together for food for next week and the tourney - I'm thinking I'll make a couple of big pans of breakfast casserole for the boys who stay over and also try to have some other basic options in case that doesn't work for any of them - a couple kinds of cereal, some yogurt, toast or what not.

I am tired!! The boys both have a yucky cough and I was up several times with Caleb last night and the night before. He told me this morning his eyes were heavy - and then asked me why mine weren't - I laughed and said mine were too.