A very good free choice Friday morning...

[timer lady]

friends & fellow warrior parents.

It's Friday....likely the beginning of the winter holiday for our kids. Chaos now begins - less than a week before Christmas.

kt is off to respite at 3 pm this afternoon & I'm ready to do some of my gift wrapping & elf duties.

Before kt leaves for respite she & I are making a favorite holiday snack involving pretzels, rollos & M&Ms. Easy, fast & the kids love them. Keeps respites staff happy so kt gets invited back all the time. Gotta keep respite staff happy!

I have a tree that I'm donating to the respite house & have it ready for pick up this afternoon :christmaslights: The kids will be decorating it this weekend & it will be up for 4 respite weekends. I'm glad that I have it to donate.

My weekend plans are the above, painting a new still life, sleep & menu planning for next week.

Have a good Friday, friends.

 

[Marguerite]

G'day, folks.

Linda, the snacks sound great. I'm hoping to do some cooking with difficult child 3 tomorrow. Either that, or his science project (he has to get started over our summer holidays).

It's late Friday evening here, I gave difficult child 3 the day off school so we could go Christmas shopping. It was the last day of the school year, so this was no big deal.

We took mother in law, met up with easy child 2/difficult child 2 who wasn't working today, and blitzed our shopping lists. As soon as we got home difficult child 3 went straight to the computer to log his purchases against his spreadsheet, then he went to wrap them. He asked me to write his tags, although he wrote a couple more himself. His wrapping is VERY amateurish, but functional. He wanted me to help towards the end of it, I wanted him to stop and continue tomorrow, but he HAD to finish.

Tomorrow I'll finish off my wrapping then take difficult child 3 to mother in law's to set up her Christmas tree in the final spot.

sister in law and kids arrive on Tuesday. brother in law has decided to not come; he wants to stay on the other side of the country, on his own. No comment.

I am really tired, after a busy day. It was a very pleasant summer day, despite a forecast of cool and rain. I finally bought myself a new swimsuit - I was really pleased, it's really flattering and hides the fact that I now had rolls of saggy skin thanks to my weight loss. AND it was cheap! I was hoping to christen it this afternoon, but tomorrow will have to do. The forecast says it will be cool and rainy. So whatever happens, I win. If it rains, the garden gets the benefit. If it's sunny, my tan wins.

Our summer purchases have one more item on the list - board wax for difficult child 3's skim board. I'm going to Google for alternatives, I suspect I have the ingredients already, to make something just as effective.

I LOVE being as organised as this, with days left to go! Plus husband is on Christmas holidays as of today, until after New Year. I always enjoy it when he's on holidays, we enjoy spending time together and I also enjoy seeing him relax and potter around in his workshop.

Enjoy your Friday, everyone.

Marg

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Happy Free Choice Friday ​

Linda, sounds like your weekend is planned!!! Good idea keeping the respite staff happy! Never know when you might need that favor returned............ Nice of you to donate that tree. I'm sure it makes kt feel good too. You girls have fun with the "mix making" . What is Wed night's dinner shaping up to be?​

Marg, sounds like you have everything in order! I'm the same - every present wrapped and all the cards finally out in the mail! What about melding old candle stubs for the board wax? Most of the young folk here in the states have skim boards covered with layers and layers of poly - difficult child has never waxed his - then again, he's not too good either!!!! Just being honest, not mean! That's great that your man has so much time off for the holidays .​

Can you believe Friday is finally here? The last day I have to wake the kids for school for two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am thrilled to begin this holiday break. ​

I'm off to the gym this morning, then the grocer. I am having a small Christmas brunch here at my house, as well as cooking a small turkey breast for the kids and I Christmas evening. Since I'm out of town until the evening of the 23rd, I want to get as many things today as possible so I don't have to do a big shop the night I get back (you will not see me near a store, even a grocery store, on the 24th!!!!!). Hopefully just a bread and milk run on the way home tuesday.​

Wishing you all a fabulous free choice friday ​

Sharon​

 

[Fran]

Good Morning all. Yay! for Friday. It has drizzly, overcast and damp for a couple of days now. Not what you want for Christmas but the temps promise to hit 70 today. I find that hard to believe but what do I know? Right now, you would need Rudolph to go anywhere Lots of fog today.

Linda, how nice to have respite and to get prepared. Having a little bonding time with kt over the snacks sounds fun. Hope you have a restful weekend.

Marguerite, I like the idea of taking difficult child 3 Christmas shopping. Does he enjoy himself? My difficult child loves to shop but only for fun stuff. Of course, he interested in do the math to work out a budget. Makes it very difficult to not run out of money.
Marguerite, I know what you mean about party pooper b i l's. Honestly they never grow up.

LDM, good for you for being so organized. I can not believe how behind I am but I'm not stressing this year. I'll get through tonight's hostessing duties and worry about tomorrow, well tomorrow. Enjoy the gym and your time away.

Well the decorating is done. The house looks festive. I was encouraged to not put out all the holiday stuff so it didn't look cluttered. I must admit I'm sentimental about the Christmas stuff. I don't want to part with it so I put it in boxes and stored it. Tonight's the first party we have had in the new house. It was a long haul to this point but everything is ready but the last minute vacuuming and primping. The puppies are going to the groomers for a Christmas bath and blow dry. LOL. They have bright Christmas collars with bells on them. I'm such a sucker for this stuff. The puppies only get to say hello and then spend the evening in my bedroom with their beds and water bowl. Not everyone will appreciate 2 100lb, very furry, very white dogs rubbing up against the black clothing. Not to mention if there is food on a coffee table it will eventually be gone. Little thieves. Our sons will help a bit then off to the movies or mall or something.

Tomorrow mom arrives. I'll worry about groceries tomorrow. LOL. Not today. Today is to enjoy the hussle and bustle of having a party and having fun.

Have a great Friday. Do something kind for someone.

 

[Wiped Out]

Good Morning,

Linda-How nice that you are donating a tree to the respite home!

Marg-Yeah for the new swimsuit! by the way, I had to chuckle at the comment about your difficult child's wrapping-it's probably better than mine! I'm just not good at wrapping!

Sharon-Sounds like a busy day for you but fun at the same time. I can tell you are happy about winter break-me too!

Our winter break is starting a day early-schools are closed today!! The snow is really bad here-we are predicted to get up to 10 inches and the wind is blowing as well. :snowing:

While I'm glad for the extra day off-really glad as I am just exhausted from many nights of little sleep-I'm not looking forward to the extra minutes of teaching each day until the end of the school year (and this is only December). We once went 5 years with no snow day and now the old fashioned winters seem to be returning.

Don't know how much I'll be able to get on the board today to respond because husband is making a dvd for tomorrow night's Christmas part in Michigan. It is going to be so cool-including pics of his entire family (it's a huge family)! He still has to add music. He told me mostly it'll be me hanging with the kids today because he has so much work to go. He has really been working hard on this. I just hope we don't get snowed in and unable to make it.

Wishing everyone a happy Friday!

 

[Wiped Out]

Fran-You snuck in on me! Enjoy the party! I wish I could see pics of your fur babies decked out for Christmas!

 

[1 Day At a Time]

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

Linda, the holiday snacks sound wonderful. You are so thoughtful to help out with the snacks and the tree. Believe me, these things will be appreciated. Your weekend plans sound good. Hope the new still life gets off to a good start.

Marg, I admire your organization. It sounds as if your shopping has been extremely productive . Buying a swimsuit is tricky business and to find an inexpensive one is a real coup. I know the mother in law will enjoy her tree. It's wonderful that husband has a nice, long holiday and that sister in law and the kids are going to visit. Enjoy your time together!

Sharon, I hope that the shopping expedition goes well. I admire your ability to get it all done in one stop. Grocery shopping is my least favorite chore, and I try to do it as seldom as possible. We used to have a service here called WebVan which allowed you to order your groceries online and have them delivered to your kitchen! I was a big fan, but unfortunately they went bankrupt. It's a great idea, though.

Fran, the party sounds exciting! I do hope that it goes swimmingly. It's such fun to have the first party in a new house. The guests get to know ,and love, your house as you do.

Sharon II, Wow, 10 inches of snow! I think that you are indeed having an old fashioned winter. husband's DVD sounds wonderful. I hope it turns out well for him.

difficult child had semester final exams yesterday and today. Yesterday he finished Forensic Science and Economics exams (neither are his favorites), and he is relieved to be finished. Forensic Science had an interesting component to the final. The class staged and solved a "murder" in the school. The victim was the Calculus teacher - LOL! I think the kids chose the victim. difficult child didn't have much to say about it, but it sounded interesting to me.

As difficult child is a senior and he has an "A" in his graphic arts class, he does not have to take an exam in that class. It's his first exam of the day, so he gets to sleep in ... Yay!! English Lit/Comp is the last exam and then he is done...

We are really looking forward to the school vacation. easy child is coming home from school on Monday, and we all enjoy his visits. He has requested computer components for his Christmas gift and that difficult child help him build a computer. This is right up difficult child's alley and I am delighted that they will spend some good time relating together.

I'm working at home today and plan a quick trip to the YMCA to work out. I hope everyone has a peaceful, enjoyable day.

 

[Penta]

I read yet don't often comment on the morning thread, but I saw Fran's mention about kindness today and thought of this quote:

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again." -Stephen Grellet

Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

 

[Andy]

Good Morning all!

I slept in a little this morning and am headed to Fargo for the day. Need to take easy child to drop off her jeep and bring her home 1st since she decided not to come with.

Last night was difficult child's school program. AWESOME! I don't know how to explain it but the last part was a mime of the Christmas Story using sticks. difficult child was a wiseman. The girl that used her sticks to make the star and crown did a great job. All the kids were in black and looked so professional. This was a very strong presentation, many moms close to tears.

difficult child said his part was hard because he couldn't do things too early or too late. Each of the three wisemen changed their staff to a shorter stick and raised in the air on cue to represent their gift.

Well, if I want a day in Fargo, I better get going. I hope you all have a great day today.

Penta, thank you for that quote.