Good Morning! It's a new week. I hope you all enjoy it the way Bill is enjoying the trees.

Dagmar

Good morning! I have done my exercises.

Good morning! We had a nice weekend with my sister and SIL out to visit. Carter got lots and lots of scratches and petting and was quite happy with the visitors. Took the babies apple picking yesterday -- briefly, as it was quite hot outside. But they did get to wear their cute sun hats they haven't had a chance to wear yet! They had their 4 month/2 month (4 months actual, 2 months adjusted age) appointment on Friday and are doing well. Just over 10lbs each, which is about 25% for weight for their adjusted age, but their heights and heads are closer to 40-50%. They made all of their 2 month milestones and some of the 4 month milestones!

My mom and dad will be in town tomorrow night and here for a week. Here's hoping for not too many arguments with my dad, and for DH to not get too stressed out by having my dad around when he's at home with the kids all day. (I love my dad, but having him around can be very stressful.) Maybe dad will stay at the hotel and just have my mom come over part of the time to give DH a break. MIL and FIL are on vacation this week.

Good morning everyone!

I've been experiencing back problems lately. I'm not really sure why this is. I can't say that I've done anything that should have caused it but it's getting to be a bit of a nuisance. An Aleve in the morning seems to help but I don't really want to rely on that. The other day I did some yoga that did back stretches and that really helped--for about an hour and then the pain returned.

Glad the girls are getting out, Jessica! I love seeing the photos on FB!

You're good to get the exercise out of the way, Birchie. I'll come home today and do mine before I fix dinner. And then I'll relax and watch last night's episode of Breaking Bad.

Allison It's a great epi - Breaking Bad - and ends on a real cliffhanger!

Silverbirch Good for you getting the exercise done earlier . I totally lose momentum by the end of the day.

bargoo How are you doing?

Jessica Glad the girls are doing well and getting out and about. How is DH finding it being a "chick magnet"?

I am finished with all of the funeral occasions. Now on to selling the farm, tying up the rest of the loose ends, and disposing of the rest of my father's things. I'm hoping to be done with all of it by the end of 2013.

The reno is going well. Our contractor will be done the bathroom today - except for the window install. I have never had a brand new bathroom before and I'm quite excited and determined to be the first to shower in it. I might sneak over sometime before we move in and try it out.

The floors will probably be installed about 2 weeks from now and that should coincide with the end of the painting. Then a clean up of all the dust and furniture deliveries will start.

Dagmar

I saw the pictures too Jessica-- so cute!!

Allison-- I hate back issues! Mine has been acting up for over a month now. I got a massage which helped some and I've started doing the foam rolling. It feels decent this morning but that doesn't mean it will later.

Hello to everyone else!

We have a huge fire on the mountain that is nearby (Mt. Diablo). So scary. You can see it from my house and work and the sky is filled with smoke. Very eerie. There have been evacuations nearer the fire but I'm praying they contain it before it spreads further.

Dagmar-- did the funeral/memorial stuff go okay? I'm sure you're glad it's all over!

Dh came home Saturday. My weight is up 3 pounds. Grrrr.... I eat so clean/healthy when he's gone that I sometimes think my body needs to be shaken up a bit. So, he comes home and we eat differently. More quantity wise but still healthy--- though with some cheese and stuff I don't usually have. Now I just feel huge and grouchy.

I'm sitting here feeling guilty because I am working from home today. I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon near my home, when instead, I should be in CT attending the all-company meeting and then setting up my office stuff, which I just packed up on Friday so that it could be moved about 40 feet into an office. This should feel momentous, as I've just moved from a cubicle into an office with a door that I can close. I'll be sharing it with another manager who comes into the office on alternate days, so it will be like those old boardinghouse situations in the coal mining region where the boarders shared a room & a bed but worked different shifts in the mine & so never saw one another, as one was always working while the other was sleeping.

Also debating what to do about my therapist. Now I've got to go to CT on the days when my therapist is working from his home office rather than Manhattan. I don't know if I can change my appointment but I know I can't make the current time, at least not every week. He's been somewhat helpful to me but not really great. I've had better. Also he is expensive. Is this an opportunity to end my visits? Honestly I think my antidepressants, introspection and exercise get most of the credit for keeping me operational. He's been good in the clutch, like when my father was dying or a hurricane was approaching or had just hit. I don't know. I'll be debating this on & off all day.

Me too, Dagmar! If I'm drinking anything while driving I also find myself using the bottle as a microphone. Yesterday I had a Dasani bottle - great acoustic response when it is about half full. LOL Enjoy the new bathroom.

Jessica - saw the baby pics, cute! They look great. My neighbors both had baby girls this summer - both are just over a month old now, and both are in the 50% or higher for head size and length, one is in 15% for weight and the other is 25% for weight. They look great, and your girls do, too.

Allison - sorry about the back. Hope the yoga helps.

Birchie - great job on the exercise!

Michele - my weight goes up every time I change my eating routine, even if I stay within calorie ranges. Grr.

Starting the week off with a parent teacher conference with the ALP (gifted class) teacher. Had an impromptu conference with myself and the math and homeroom teachers last week when I stopped in to introduce myself to the new teacher. Woo.

Saef - will your PCP continue the prescription for you without you seeing the therapist? I think it would be very inconvenient to have to go to CT for someone who you can't clearly say is helping. Maybe you could find someone else local, or just switch to the PCP for the meds? Exercise helps me a lot more than anything else, I believe.

Dagmar~when you said it ended in a cliffhanger, you were not exaggerating! Wow! And only 3 more episodes.

Michele~your fire was on the news tonight. I feel for you. It's scary regardless of how close it may or may not be. Be safe!

I'm still all excited by my new bathroom but I do have words of caution to anyone buying fixtures. Make sure you can SIT on the toilet before you buy it. Ours was recommended by an associate in the store and is a reputable brand. We have two made by the same manufacturer in the bungalow we rent and they're great toilets.

The new one I bought, off a wall display and then packed inside a big box, has a seat that can't really be tightened . So every time you use it you wobble around all over the place. I wonder why my contractor didn't call me and tell me the toilet had to go back. He installed it, even though he knew it was a dud. We will have to live with it - I've run out of time to go shopping and return stuff and such. So that's a $250 mistake that will have to be fixed next year sometime.

The bathtub is nice and spacious . But the spigot leading to it from the shower taps is now too short and the water runs down over the side of the tub. I will have to try to get a longer spigot. My contractor will willingly replace it - I just have to find one.

At least my contractor had the sense to not install a wall unit that was supposed to go in over the toilet. It, when paired with the new medicine cabinet, would barely have fit and the doors wouldn't have opened. He does get points for that.

I can't bug DH with all of this stuff as he is working every night and weekend to get the painting and then the floors done. I see him for dinner and for breakfast and that's it.

SIGH. Live and learn. I wish the learn part didn't have to be so expensive and time-consuming.

And I find myself eating in the evenings again because I'm so tired I'm ready for bed at 8 p.m. Part of this is fallout from my father's death - I do get that. And I'm limiting the eating - small bag of jelly beans, rather than 2 lbs. of 'em.

I am really, really looking forward to having ONE house to look after.

November 1 - I can last 'til November 1.

Dagmar

Well, I'll stick with my therapist, as he's offered to see me at 7:15 AM on Mondays, after which time I'll depart for my commute to CT. We both get up early so this is doable. It does interfere with my recent habit of hitting the gym before work, so I'll have to go in the evenings. Mondays are now going to become my longest day of activity before hitting my bed time.

Dagmar, your house remodeling issues are giving me flashbacks! Everything we did in our hall bathroom resulted in fresh chaos. I now know why general contractors are so expensive - they already learned all that stuff! We pay for their experience, blood, stress, and wasted material. Yes, you can make it til November. Put that longer spigot high on your priority list, because when you move in, you need to take the longest, most luxurious bath EVER! Re wiggly toilet seats: If the problem is oversized holes in the stool thru which the seat bolts fasten, I have seen rubber grommets online that help reduce that diameter. I'm guessing it's not the seat itself - I once spent 3/4 the price of a new one just getting a missing bolt shipped.

saef - good to hear you have a viable compromise with your appointment. It's not the greatest to have the longest day on Monday, but it does get it out of the way. Congrats on getting an office with a door!

michele - I would imagine that watching a big fire from a distance is even harder than watching a tornado - at least tornados are somewhat predictable and have a limited range of damage (and they go away without human intervention). Stay safe!

silver - well done on kicking off the day and the week on the right foot!

jessica - I'm a sucker for babies in sunhats! Hope the family visit goes smoothly!

shannon - we have the high school open house tomorrow night. I've had conversations with some of DS's teachers via email, but I am really looking forward to putting faces with the names.

Re the singing - I am surrounded by gifted singers. I live with two of them, was raised by another, have one for a good friend, have two for inlaws ... and my voice can peel paint. It is what it is - I am destined to be a patron and on the receiving end of music.

I'm still figuring out where everybody has to be and when. DS's schedule is a new beast and I am determined to wrap it around my own swimming 3 times a week. Phew. Too many special events in September; hoping October will find a way to settle into something repeatable!

Yesterday I was on the treadmill watching the men's tennis final (normally I just listen to music and stare out the window) and I noticed a word on some of the stuff we bought for DS's dorm room. The word was FULL. For those of you who know dorm stuff (Michele!) you know FULL won't cut it. I had accidentally ordered a FULL set of bed-in-a-bag type stuff when it should have been extra-long twin. Oops! Quick, print out the order confirmation, give it all to DS so he can take it back to BB&B, see if they have the right one in the store and if not get it ordered ASAP! He moves in on the 22nd, so I'm glad I caught it!

allison, good catch on the dorm stuff! Hope your back is feeling better - it's hard to enjoy anything when you're in pain.