WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR MAY 2019

Good morning all! Happy Monday! I want to start off by sending love to all of the grandma's of the new babies! Rebecca, Michelle, and Evelyn and anyone I have missed- Athena Rose, Peter Joseph, and Rosie! New babies are so exciting! Both of the girls are beautiful. Can't wait for a pic of PJ.
My Saturday with Trentin went well. A late start on the shopping (he slept from 6am-10:30). Along with the shopping, I had a couple of errands to run. One was to Staples for copies and the other was to Home Depot. Trentin thought he had died and gone to heaven. He is a gadget kid. Not just electronic gadgets, but little things to fiddle with. So both stores with their aisles of office supplies and hardware were entrancing to Trentin. lol He announced that those two stores are his two new favorite stores and "can we go there again next week?". While we were at Aldi he pulled a stick out of his coat pocket and proceeded to make "music" on the shopping cart the entire time we were there. (to get a sense of what it sounded like; imagine a child running a stick along a metal fence- a metallic drumroll). I was a little worried he was annoying the other shoppers, but then he found a metal lid to a jar in his pocket (the kid carries around unusual things) and used that to make "music". That was loud. So I told him to stick with the stick. Anyway, the day went well. We were able to do everything. Even spent about 20 minutes watching the chocolatier work his magic. Trentin picked out two pieces of chocolate and the owner gave him two pieces for free as it was his birthday! So he had a nice little box of four chocolates. Trentin was so pleased and happy with that box of chocolate. Once the bow was on it he never opened it up. He gave me a hug when he left.
Yesterday was quiet. I slept in until 6:00, then stayed in my pj's until noon, doing paperwork and food prep and drinking coffee. Colin, my youngest son, was at his girlfriends for the weekend and he came home about 3:30. He asked if I wanted to go out to dinner for mother's day, but I already had planned to make Mongolian Chicken for dinner (so that I could have the leftovers for lunch for the kiddos today). SO...he actually stayed in the kitchen and HELPED! He learned how to make the sauce which involves mincing garlic cloves and grating fresh ginger. I was so proud of him! lol His girlfriend is not an adventurous eater nor does she cook (she is one of those chicken strip kids; that is pretty much all she eats when she goes out); so Colin has decided that he needs to learn to cook so he doesn't have to eat what she eats.
I had two open day shift spots in my childcare, that will begin in June. One spot is filled. Great new family with a 10 month old boy. The other spot will be filled by the end of the week. Either by a family with a two year old girl or by a family with a 2 1/2 year old boy. That is a load off my mind.

Tim and I are both fighting colds. Mine is not bad and seems to have just taken the form of loss of voice. Tim, with his poor immune system, feels like he has been hit by a truck. Sinus and chest congestion, cough, sore throat, body aches (but I think that has more to do with his RA and the effects of the coughing). *sigh* It just needs to warm up. It has been a cold and rainy spring.

Well,here come the other kids. I better sign off. Love to all! ttfn xoxoxo KJ (Kelly)

Vicki - I think deep down inside Denise is glad to have me. I don't know about Pete. He's so "macho" that he doesn't like asking for help. I know Denise felt bad the other day, PJ was up a lot of the night so I told her that I'd watch him so she could get some rest. Pete's answer? Take the swing up to the bedroom so when PJ fusses he can put PJ in the swing. Where in the bedroom they have it is beyond me. To say their room is small is putting it mildly. And Pete wanted a king size bed (the room is probably big enough for a queen size), a big dresser with a large TV on top. The guest room I'm in there isn't even room for a bureau. Just a queen size bed (the room is probably only made for a double or single) and a small table with a lamp). There really isn't room for anything else.

Evie - congrats!

Congratulations to Lisa. To be honest, what happened?

Oh, I really do want to leave Sat. This stress eating is killing me. Today I had french toast fried in BUTTER.

As far as yesterday...can we say "uncomfortable"? Get there, his mother has potatoes cut up for mashed potatoes (I had my sweet potato since I can't take that back with me). We won't mention that I brought all the potatoes. I asked her if she had a salad spinner. "Oh, I have the salad already made". The only veggie she had was the california medley (which was really overcooked...so mushy) that I brought and the mashed potatoes. You won't believe what i brought home. Today Pete, Denise and PJ are supposed to go to Philly to see his grandmother and I'm planning to take things back to WalMart. When we got home yesterday Pete says "we can have the dinner you wanted to make. Ah...no. The idea was for one thing that I would be extending an olive branch to his mother and also Denise only has service for 4. Even his mother said that she needs service for at least 8. My thought was she is probably feeling "why do I need it?" Well, with 5 of us, she'll see why she needs it. but we have to have the food Pete wants cooked the way he wants. I brought over one of the packages of chicken (I'll see if I can return the other package and just tell Pete that I had to return it since the soonest I could make it would be Thurs and that'll be beyond the expiration date.) It seems that Pete, his mother and father are totally oblivious of my feelings. I was with his mother all the time she was cooking the chicken on the grill (some of it came out, to me, quite dry). I asked that my piece not have the barbecue sauce on it. So what does she do (I don't know if this was intentional...I doubt it) she put barbecue sauce on the thigh that I asked to have. So I had the legs (that she cooked as long as she cooked the breast which is probably why they were dried out). I helped set the table and clean up (that's just the way I was taught)

After dinner his mother had to wash the stove. I can understand the dishes, you might need the sink for something else. But the stove? Maybe it's just me, but I let something like that go and spend time with my company. To me, they are more important than a stove. But that's just me.

Found out that PJ had to come home from the hospital wearing the outfit that Pete bought him. I asked Denise if he had my MIL's sweater on (she made it when she was pg with Vince, Vince came home from the hosp in it, so did Jess, Bryan and Denise). Nope.....guess Pete didn't want it.

I'm going to tell Denise that I was thinking of leaving Sat. but if she wants me to stay longer, I will. I have enough clothes for another week. But I have a feeling that Pete doesn't want me. The sad thing is that (and i really don't know why) Denise just acquiesces to whatever Pete wants and she won't stand up for me or Jess.

Michele feeling blue

exermom wrote: »

To say their room is small is putting it mildly. And Pete wanted a king size bed (the room is probably big enough for a queen size), a big dresser with a large TV on top. The guest room I'm in there isn't even room for a bureau. Just a queen size bed (the room is probably only made for a double or single) and a small table with a lamp). There really isn't room for anything else.

Sounds like our house!

We've got a decently large, fairly open living area (kitchen, dining and living), and three bedrooms.

One bedroom is our sleeping room with a king-sized bed and night tables.

One bedroom is the dressing room with the dressers and wardrobes.

One bedroom is about half the size of the other two, and it's the office.


Funny thing is, the bathroom is huge, and there's a separate toilet of course, and laundry room. I'm not sure why they didn't put the toilet into the bathroom shift the laundry room over, and make what is our dressing room about 3.5 feet wider, but Australians do like their separate toilets.

It works for the two of us.


About the king-sized bed, we've used a queen sized bed for a bit, and then, after travelling around Europe for a while and sleeping on decent beds, we decided to get one too. Our king-sized bed is two twins which can be joined together to be one bed, or separated into two twins. That's how the beds were in Europe too. That meant that we got matching bases, but different mattresses. I like a firmer mattress and my husband likes a softer mattress. So we got what we wanted.

Since my husband's accident, we've actually separated the bases. The beds are next to each other, but not touching. It's because we're both restless sleepers now and would wake each other up if the beds were one. So that's one benefit of the king-sized bed.

Another benefit is that as two twin beds, they are so easy to move. There's no struggling with a huge mattress etc.

This is a photo of our base and mattresses in a previous house.




Our little house. This photo was taken some time ago. The yard is actually neater than that since my husband has been home from the hospital and doing the gardening.





Machka in Oz

My son texted me last night to ask us to pick up the kids today. He has an unexpected appointment in London. DDIL works in London on Mondays and gets back late.
So here I am with Bea while DH has gone off to fetch the older ones from Kids Club. I've fed her and we have had a snack to keep us going. We are glad to be of service.
Next door but one has an Open House for Arts for the festival. I popped in and saw a gorgeous bowl. I feel it's a bit expensive though.
We will be doing baths etc. Hope my son isn't too late. I will put Bea to bed.
I could do with a quiet day soon, but tomorrow is very busy too and I'm going to Southampton on Wednesday for my brother 's birthday. Oooofffff!!!
Much love, Heather UK XXXXXX