Hello all,
Speaking for myself I can say for certain that I have not stayed away because I have drifted away bored or disinterested. More like lately I am overwhelmned, innundated and always seem to be running behind. Late to work, late to bed at night, always seems like I should be doing something, somewhere and more than I am doing right now. And the worst part is that sometimes when I get overwhelmed I retreat to the TV and do nothing which feeds the circle. DH has finally got the treadmill set up, have I been on it - no. He did find some of our missing items - they were behind other boxes and he just assumed all the boxes were from the basement - which they weren't. We have hope we'll find the other stuff.

I will probably be silent for another week or two. I have to file my 2004 health care reimbursement by the end of this month or I will forfeit a SUBSTANTIAL amount of money which means I have to buckle down, go through boxes and get all the papers I need. I see too that it is less than a month for tax time - generally we do that back in January but another reason to find all those precious papers. Get busy lady!

I have bought my mom an airline ticket and I will be flying home (I have decided Chicago will ALWAYS be my home) to pick her up April 8. Will spend the weekend at her house and we'll fly back her on Sunday where she will spend the week with us. I am looking forward to it.

I am sorry to read of so many of you feeling sick or poorly or struggling right now. I think we all need a bit of spring re-energising or a bit of fall cooling in Shad and Suzi's case.

I'll be back soon, I promise. Leave a light on for me and a cuppa in the kettle. Sending you all big hugs!

evening chickies ,how are we all ?good i hope ,im getting there i think ,midwives went great i seem to have a really good one and everything was fine ,ill get my elective section sometime between 37 weeks and 39 weeks but will have to speak to a consultant about that at 29 weeks dad has had his blood test to check his liver function test and has been to the cardiologist to check his heart there has been some damage but no more than was already there so thank goodness for that one less thing to worry about but hes not coping too well without his co-proxamol fix hes having severe withdrawels and im afraid it serves him right silly old codger ,it seems he thought it would help clear the phlemg from his chest
right ladies time runs short again but i will be back to normal soon -ish {{{{{{hugs}}}}}}} to all our weary freinds and the end to the long roads in sight
have a good one ladies
kirsty

Evening all,
Hey it's Friday. Thats gotta have something going for it. Only a week ad a bit left at this job now.
It seems that I missed the job with the Govt. Not to worry, there will be other opportunities coming my way, I am sure. Hoping not to have to go to Sydney to work tho. That would test my patience and my wallet. Aaaah well wait and see. A couple of weeks off would be nice.

Weekend is going to be busy again. Lots of things to do, I haven't started on today's list yet, but will get there shortly. It's not a hard list just a fairly long one and I haven't yet finished the spare room. That should be done tonight as well.

Lots of rain today at work, but none down here. Drat, we could have done with it - the veges just love natural rain - they do a lot better than with the hose and sprinklers. Roses are starting to bud up again as well. Gotta love the autumn. It rocks.

Mel tells me she will be back over the weekend. She must have hard a real hard time over this particular bout of sickness. Good to see linus back and great to hear from Happy2bme. More boxes??!!!>> Ye gods - where did you stack everything in the other house??? Hiya 'Nae. Good to hear from you. We haven't had enough rain this summer to keep us going either. Guess we will be back to drought again this winter. Seasons sure are doing some funny things these days.

Gotta go, there is this lady coming round sometime to sell me some wine (she thinks) so best run round and do a quick tidy up and whizz with the broom.
See ya

The grouch did the grout,heeheeeheeheehee...DH got up on the right side of the bed and got half the grout done in the tub surround. It looks BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!

It was a looooooong trying day yesterday.

DS was needy and VERY emotional and had several meltdowns. sigh. One already today.
Other kids were moody. I looked at the clock at 1pm and almost cried, still had 4 hours to go.
Made supper for the troops, took a shower and went to book club. It was wonderful. It is such a nice group. Received many compliments on my snacks and for leading the discussion.Felt nice to be with adults and using my brain for something other than family and home.
Niggles today and 6 kids. Laundry to do.Cat puke to clean up.
Going to Grandma’s tonight. I will put the depends in her laundry bag with a note.

I ate again last night. It is definitely a reaction to dealing with DS. He is exhausting on every level. Sometimes I wonder if it will get easier and I have the gumption to deal with this for another 15+ years. The first 7 have been beyond exhausting.
The last couple of days seem like about 4 steps back. All the recent progress is out the window. giant sigh.

Hello I am a bit scattered, depressed and rather lost just lately. Can't put my finger on a direct cause, just the overwhelmingness of life I guess. So much just there wanting you to act or acknowledge. I have done my weights twice this week which is better than the zero of last week The sourdough and mayonaisse sandwiches with cayenne pepper and hot paprika are back in the picture. Chocolate a moderate indulgence then left alone we shall see how things pan out on that front over Easter, peanut butter daisies anyone The kids start spring break now so they will be home for a week and a half staring me down I have made them orange juice popsicles and they love me for the moment

Holly-gee I know what you are feeling. All that need directed square at you! Do you remember that "Calgon take me away" commercial? Try and get some time where you can zone out in the bath or with the headphones. I find that just a 1/2 hr. to myself to recharge is fabulous. If I get that I can refocus and set to all the demands with a smile on my face instead of a beleaguered frown.


Shad-I'm sorry that job wasn't for you, fingers crossed that you do get a little break between jobs when you do get fixed up. How much wine did you test? :slurp: how do I get this lady to come to my house, does she have a Canadian affiliate? How fine would that be? Merlot calling instead of Avon I teared up a bit when you mentioned finding the stray fur during your cleanup, they will always be missed our animal friends. You forget how much you feel their absence until something like that hits you.

Linus-((((HUGS)))) I'm glad the midwife is a keeper and your worries are lessoning. Remember you need to give attention to your inner self, you are cooking a person! Wouldn't do for you to become too frazzled. Tell your hubby that you want a new routine in place and that he is to bring you a hot cup of tea and a new magazine every evening at 8pm Sunday he is to run you a warm bath and have fresh flowers beside the tub for you to enjoy as well as candles and while he is at it could he please read you some sultry poetry while you relax into the warmth.


Happy-great that your things are just in a stray box and not pilfered by the moving guys One less worry, it is all there somewhere Hopefully those medical papers aren't buried too far in the boxes and you can come up for air. Flying to Chicago to pickup your mom... sounds terrific. Is she a good organizer? Will she be helping you strategize this new place of yours? Have a grand time with her in April


Rose-the fact that you want more snow storms your way sounds to me like you are really in dire need of this vacation Do you have people or something to shovel your sidewalk and driveway? Snow caked up sideways against the house? What are you planning with wanting even more snow? Jumping off the roof?

Teel-are you off flying a kite in your windy part of the world?

Mel-did they finally get you? Are they holding you hostage until you agree to be the mediator for all the arguments in the building? How crazy are they making you? Have you taken to your bed and hiding under the covers till they stop banging on the door and slipping notes trying to get you to intervene in the madness?! I hope you are feeling better and are taking your vitamins.

My computer crashed a couple of weeks ago and I tried to fix it with no luck. It's been sent off to the manufacturer for repair - still under warranty, that was good. Meanwhile, Slim got tired of me lurking over his shoulder mournfully watching him use his computer so he ordered me a desktop computer. When my laptop gets back, it will be my computer to use wandering around the house since we have WiFi here. House of Geeks.

We went to DS's last weekend and Slim and DDIL ran a 15K race and I ran a 5K. Because I didn't run quite as fast as they did, there are FOUR pictures of me taken by the race photographer versus their one each. To see Slim's favorite pic click on or copy and paste the following: http://www.brightroom.com/stf.asp?EV...D=&ID=13031427 I have a bumper sticker that Slim got me that says Run like a Girl

I've read the past several pages. Too much sickness going around.

We decided to Thai one on for St. Patty's day and went to our favorite restaurant and I had my very favorite sushi. yummmm. Tomorrow is another 5K so we did date night last night.

We had two inches of rain yesterday - a lot of rain even for Florida. I appreciated the weather update, Shad. I'm always interested in what the weather is like where everyone else is.

Work is absolutely nutz. Meetings, meetings, back to back and no work accomplished during any one day. I need a sign that says We are Work Friendly. No Work is Harmed Here.

I had better hit Submit before this post disappears. to All!

Tig, you look great. Really striding it out there. Well done. It's great to hear from you and hear you doing so well.

Hurrah for Holly's DH got the grout done around the bath he beat me to it. My grout will be done next weekend, I hope. Isn't it strange how the mood of 1 child will bring down the rest of the pack. Hope he can grow out of this soon. But at least you got out of it to go to Bookclub. Sounds like an interesting group.

Meadow I so know the feeling of having so much to do and and so little time or inclination to do anything. At that point everything gets on your wick and you feel like a time bomb waiting, waiting....... What's the count on the sandwiches? - if you are using low fat mayonnaise, it can't be all bad. I didn't get to slurp any wine as she didn't arrive. Don't know why, maybe she just forgot or maybe she understood the reluctance in my voice. Much as I like some of the wine she sells, the fact that I have to buy eighteen bottles (6 of each) at a time is the problem. It wouldn't even be so bad if I could buy one of something but 6 is a bit much.

I have a 5 day weekend next weekend, 4 for Easter and 1 Oil company picnic day. Huh? Well apparently it is that way and has been for years. So when I go back I have only 2 more days to go. Aaah well. Something will arise I am sure.

Been fairly busy today. Finished cleaning the spare room and sorting the stuff for sending to or chucking according to the child to whom it belongs. Also found a whole stack of family history stuff I had forgotten I had. I didn't find my fathers cuff links that I seem to have misplaced, but I found several other pairs of his - these are going to DS1 if he wants them. Otherwise I may keep them for one of the nephews or have them made into earrings for me or one of my nieces.
I've been to Body Balance class and then got the fruit and veges. Got home and cleaned out the cupboards under the sink in the kitchen, chucked out more junk, washed everything and organised the stuff into baskets and crates. Then I did huge loads of washing - darned if I know where it all comes from, had siesta and went out into the garden and spread fertiliser over the roses, veges and various plants and trees. Now I just have to finish folding the washing and get on with the ironing and oh yes listen to the cat yell because she doesn't like the food I put out for her. Tough, we will just see who is the most stubborn. I keep telling her about wasting food!!!! Does she listen??? Nuts

So it is Saturday night. I have a bit of tv to watch and then I think bed fairly early and another busy day tomorrow. I have been expecting DS2 to come over to pick up the futon for his father due to arrive tomorrow. True to form, everything is to be left to the last minute. The poor man may not even have a bed to sleep in tomorrow night. Not my problem.

Time to go, grab a glass of wine and settle in the chair for the evenings viewing. See ya

Honey I'm Home!!!! I haven't read anything here to catch up yet but thought I'd post first. Just getting my sea legs back again.
This week was the pits and I ended up in the ER getting an IV with meds and some meds to take home. According to the Doctor in the hospital it was similar to a "poisoning" situation. I will NEVER take anything without asking one of my doctors first. But who'd a thunk a senna tea would make me wish I was dead?!?!?
Today was the best so far. Eating some solid foods now and going slow. But the energy level is at it's highest today since it started. Must be the sun and better weather!
I stepped on the scale and NOT A FRACTION OF A POUND WAS GONE!! No food for 5 days and NO loss! Somehow it doesn't seem fair. I did learn something with all this though. I said NO many times, stayed off 3fc and my diet site too, turned off the phone and didn't answer the door. I really put myself first.
Well kids I hope you have all been well and happy. Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Palm Sunday. I will go back and read what you Chicklettes have been up to. Missed you and love you too.

Yesterday ,early aft, my washing machine decided to over flow. I didn't notice it until, while playing Go Fish, I heard raining. I looked outside....nothing. I opened the basement door. OOPS!! Apparently the diaphram that tells the machine that it is full quit. DH was up to his elbows in grout. I had 6 kids here and a house full of water. Yeehaa.
The phone lines got wet and shorted out so I couldn't get on line. BUT my clever husband went down and disconnected, dried up and reconnected the lines.
He has been wonderful the last couple of days.
I guess sleeping 12-15 hours a day for almost 2 weeks did him some good. The grout is ALL finished and it looks just peachy.He is even talking about getting the trim up.
My kids are knackered. I put DS to bed at 3pm yesterday for being a weeny ALL day. He fell asleep til 6pm,went back to sleep at 8. DD feel asleep at 6:15 pm and slept til 7 this morning. I went to bed at 9 and slept til 8am. We are all still recovering from the snotty nose bug. It's been a long one.
I postponed my appointments last night til Tues.
I ate well yesterday and did NOT snack last night.
Today after some tidying we went to the folks at the lake. My Mom had 2 paintings in an Ontario wide Juried art show. Quite a coup for her!! I took a peek. I picked up groceries.Stayed for supper had a hottub. Kids are both sleeping.
Easter party for the kids at church tomorrow. I am having them all decorate and wear an Easter bonnet/hat and we will have a parade and contest. Everyone will win a prize!!
Gotta do the darn dishes. The dish fairy hasn't appeared.
I will read a chat tomorrow.

End of the day is near and I am getting my dinner ready and decided to make this post now while things were simmering on the stove.

It's been fairly busy. I don't seem to have stopped all day, but I have achieved a lot I think. I've swept, dusted and cleaned the entire house - not that it is that big, but you know what I mean. I've taken the rubbish out in bucket loads and now have a lot less garbage in the house. DS2 has been around and taken the futon for his father to sleep on (he arrives today), he has also taken all the boxes of stuff in the house that were full of his stuff. He has a bit to come back for such as old files, mail etc. Maybe it is better if I keep the files here, he will only throw them out and then wonder when his registration for the car was paid etc. or try to find his tax file number or even worse chuck out his passport! He keeps very little junk, and is inclined to throw out that which may be important - like tax numbers!
I've changed the bed and washed the linen and cotton throw which was on it. Now it is made up with fresh sheets and a fluffy white blanket. Guess Sunday the cat will now leave ginger and black hairs all over it. She left white bits over the blue set last week.
The cupboard under the sink in the kitchen is cleaned and scrubbed and reorganised. I have now put all the bits in baskets and sorted out the junk. More rubbish to go!
The bathroom stuff which was in a laundry basket has also been sorted and put away in the vanity in the bathroom - more rubbish gone - all that old makeup and stuff which I will not use in a month of Sundays. So although my list on the wall doesn't look so good, no sanding, no new blinds, the shed has not been cleared, and I haven't finished the mending, everything else on the list and a few extras have been done.

I think I mentioned somewhere that I fertilised the garden yesterday. DS arrived today to check out the joint and pick up his junk and he wanted to know if someone had been sick in the house. Was I alright???? Huh? Then light dawned - hit me often enough and I'll remember - he could smell fertiliser, I've got so used to it I don't notice. Anyway, next weekend I will need to mulch - that should cover the smell of the fertiliser for a while. Speaking of which I had best go and water or the smelly stuff will burn the plants and the grass. By the way, my cherry tomatoes will be ready for picking next week, there is a whole great truss of the little darlings all turning orange and red. Yummy. Okay, time to water. Time to dine. Time to switch off for the night.

Take care all of you. Especially you Mel. Takes time to get over that sort of thing. At our age, it takes even longer. Holly, I hope you got the basement all cleaned and cleared. Isn't it amazing how much water those things can hold?
See ya

Shad~ your journal and this post are just wonderful.They have brightened up my day.I am looking forward to spring, which is officicially here today,and the end off the snotty nose season. We all seem tired in general.Your cleaning sounds wonderful. I need to do the same here. I get bits and pieces done but never all at once.All our bathroom stuff is piled on the spare bed.........
My cat is grey and white, it is rather an art how they leave the white hair on dark things and dark hair on white things. Clever kitties.
I bought green house tomatoes yesterday, not thrilling. I could taste yours as I read, YUM!

We are having a spring/easter party at church and then the day is free for puttering!!!

Hugs and well wishes to all!!!

Sister Shad it was good to talk to you and it gave me a great uplift. Laughter and a caring friend are great medicators I went to bed with a smile on my face. I also had devious thoughts of things we could bot to do to ex DHs You got a LOT done on that to do list considering your late start!!! Send some tomatoes over the pond!! Hope the week is a good one. Those lads are going to miss you to pieces!!! Whatever will they do without you?!

Holly~ Hope the kids and you have a great party. I will get decorated and join you all. I love prizes Sorry to hear about the washer fiasco!! DH to the rescue! LOL Great news about Mom too! Congratulations to her!!! Enjoy the day.

Feeling pretty good myself so I'll do a bit more cleaning and change sheets. Air the joint out too. Rainy but supposed to be mild. I should turn all the lights on so I can wake up! Feeling drowsy in my eyes if you know what I mean. Getting back on plan and even exercised yesterday!
Hope you all enjoy your day/night and take care.

Nae~ Where are you bound for?? How is the snow?? Hope you are keeping even keeled with everything that has been going on. HUGS!
Meadow~ have you pulled the scattered pieces together and cheered up some?? We are here for you to talk it out. Are the girls all better? My family is all better, finally. Guess who is stuffed up with a lowgrade fever today? Lucky me. HUGS!
Linus~ how are the troops? How are you managing? I am thrilled that you have a good midwife. Mine was a dream.Makes all the difference in the world. You must be 3 months, right?Hugs!
Tig~ what a powerful picture!! Fantastic!!! You look like I imagined. That doesn't usually happen.
Mel~You sound MUCH better!!! You would have loved the party.17 kids in seriously ,crafty, decorated hats.It was a big success!
Shad~the week has begun for you. Glad you had such a nice weekend.
Happy~have you made it on the treadmill? It is good to take some time for yourself.
Are things blooming? We are still under snow.

Well, kids are back to school tomorrow. They have had a good march break. Lets hope DS deosn't do the separation anxiety thing, like after Xmas.I am looking forward to less kids and more routine.

Have a glorious week!!

Mondayitis - that's what I have tonight. Mondayitis. I just feel so drained. I was off to bed but remembered that I had asked my brother to ring me and he won't be home before 8.00pm. Aaaah well, I guess I can wait half an hour or so. There are things on the board to do, but they won't get done tonight. Tough.

We had one of those boring teleconference calls today. It was to do with the SAP Upgrade which takes place over the Easter weekend. They were talking about the help desk. Considering the past performance from these IT geeks, M and I were having a guess about how the conversation might go.

Good morning, this is the no help desk, how may I not help you?

Ooooh is it really?? What were you doing at the time that smoke started coming out of the PC? Oh so you threw the monitor at the PC? Why?

You can't get into SAP? Your password doesn't work? Oooh wonder how that could happen - have you tried to reboot?

ETc Etc Etc.

Apart from that, I wrote a 26 page document and started on another. Had a huge lunch of chicken parmigiana and salad and numerouse cups of coffee and listened to P whinge alot - he later went home with a headache and sore throat - no one missed him much. C went home early too, but he had a horrible job to do, his 17 year old dog was to be put down. C was fairly quiet all day which is unlike him and then announced what he was about to do and went. I think he has been stewing on it all day. So M and I worked together and got through a couple of new transactions, some helpful hints and a bit of remedial work. We done well!!!! Had to laugh, on the tv news tonight there has been a truck rollover on the Bruce highway. In itself that is not funny, but it was the road that P takes home and tomorrow if he comes in, he will whinge about being stuck in traffic for over 2 hours. Such is life!!

Sunday the cat is about to drive me nuts - in, out, in, out - she got the royal order of the boot a few minutes back and told not to come back for at least three hours, at which time I should be sound asleep. Silly moggy.

Right, the brother has rung - got him organised, he will ring the ex tomorrow and organise some time. DS tells me that he doesn't think the ex went anywhere today, and so I have offered to let him have my car on Wednesday so he can get out and about if he wants. Since no-one seems to want to organise him - including himself, I'll bl**dy do it!!!! I can see a bit of a war coming up here. DS isn't inclined to organise his fathers day, father doesn't want to do it himself, then there will be a spat about wasting his holiday time! Ka kumekume nga tamariki i waenganui i a rątau. E mņketekete ana ahau mo te koretanga i ł. (literal transalation - The children are squabbling amongst themselfs. This is a bad thing to have happened. In truth it probably has a lot in common with WTF.

So, there is nothing on the tv. My eyes are too tired to do any mending - taking up of hems etc. so I think bed is in order.

Ka kite

As an IT geek myself, I LOVED your No Help Desk call! I had a NHD person call me "Sweetie" last week when I called in a problem with the mail server. I went ballistic, of course. I called her "Dearie" with blood dripping in my tone.