Thursday

Breakfast for 4th grader 7am, Breakfast for Pre K 7:15 am,  put on actual attire, makeup and hair while grampa puts one on the bus and one to school.  9 am Homeless Task Force Meeting, 11:30 am Church Charity Office, 2:30 home, make dinner, drink tea.  

Update on Bathroom Remodel. Plan to have all supplies by Christmas failed when we were notified the final items had arrived for pick up.  The vanity cabinet was missing. Was it the fault of the store? Was it the fault of the shipper? Each accused the other.  Paid in full, special order. Refund was received. Vanity was reordered. It is ready for pickup tomorrow when we are expecting 5" of snow.  Saturday we are expecting an additional 3" of snow. Will roads be clear enough to go out of town on Sunday? Stay tuned. 

Update on Free Time:  Wednesday Church Office volunteer's wife fell off a 6' ladder while he was at the office yesterday. She has a broken shoulder and a broken wrist and shattered her elbow which will have to be repaired surgically at the trauma center where she was flown. Of course I am so sorry for the pain and surgery and recovery she will need. I will also be working an additional day in the church office so he can be with her. I can not imagine the pain of a shattered elbow. It has to be just awful. 

Fun fact for the week:  I had a young client yesterday who is expecting a baby in two weeks. She was very uncomfortable in her interview and assured me it was "false labor".  Today I had a young client who is scheduled for a c-section tomorrow morning. 

Update on Christmas Decorations and Tree: all remain in place. 

Wednesday

Breakfast for 4th grader at 7.  Breakfast for Pre K at 7:30, Bus for 4th grader at 8, Drive Pre K to school at 8:15, Work on Shutterfly book (youngest son's surprise party last Sunday) for coupon that actually expired a week ago, while husband clears driveways and walks in the neighborhood.  Call from church charity- worker has family medical crisis, Put on a bra and go to work at church charity.  Clients until 2:30, Pre K pickup at 2:45, Run through McDonalds for late lunch - 20 minute wait after paying at drive thru, run to drug store for photo pickup and buy tooth paste, gas station to fill tank, home to finish Shutterfly book to find coupon expired, fold one load of laundry, make dinner, bake a loaf of pumpkin bread for breakfast tomorrow. Tomorrow - feed kids, kids to school, Homeless Council meeting, all day in Church Charity office.  Tree will remain standing. 

Christmas Getaway 2024

I have entered my dreaded January What Was I Thinking Era.  The tree is still up, all the decorations I had to decorate with are still up, I am frantically planning meals to make room for a steer in the freezer next week, slippery snowy weather is keeping grandkids home from school and I am a month behind in blogging.

We survived the Christmas getaway. Increasing from two children to eight and from two adults to four adults was a jump. And a lot. Everyone had a great time but Gramma Mimi isn't sure she is up to it another year. 

In no order, a bunch of photos. 

I have about 500 more photos, including everyone in cute matching pjs, Christmas sweaters and all kinds of Christmas accessories I collected.  But I will spare you the rest.  

I guess this catches me up to about 30 days ago. Maybe I will be back tomorrow with more! 

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The countdown to Christmas here has begun.  I went to the grocery store this afternoon and got 90% of what was on my list.  I worked on my Christmas cards at church and mailed 90% of them.  And just ordered another box because I don't have enough. 

I have one more pile to wrap, I have a list of rooms to clean in order so that children aren't following behind me. I need to make a prep and oven schedule for Sunday morning. I need to recount chairs and refrigerator items. 

I am coming down with a cold. 

Perhaps planning an out of town Christmas weekend the week before was not the wisest choice. And we also have tickets to see Beauty and the Beast on Saturday afternoon.  Poor time management, Mimi. 

I am thinking our Christmas getaway will make a lovely post in January, LOL. 

In the midst of being overwhelmed, I did work today in our charity office.  I had one out of town client who is in her 70's and is leaving a domestic situation. We are assisting her with the security deposit to move into a senior apartment in our area, on her own, on January 5. I had another client in his 70's (I remember him in high school as a popular football player, he did not recognize me as a mousy freshman), who was getting his utilities shut off on Monday due to some medical situations with him and his wife, as well as some money management issues. I was able to call the utility company and pay the shut off as well as a month ahead so hopefully they can get it together.  And my last client was a young mother and father. They lost one apartment and have been staying on couches of friends. They have two small children.  They were able to move into  an apartment October 1. Her job has cut back her hours and she could pay everything this month (December) except rent.  We were able to pay her entire rent for December. She has a job interview tomorrow for a better paying job with more hours, she is applying for Metro housing in hopes of lowering her rent and really seems like they are trying.  

It made me feel good to be able to help all three clients. And it made me feel guilty that I have spent a lot of money on cards and stamps. And it made me feel guilty that after finishing phone calls to landlords and utility companies, I was able to go to the grocery store and buy whatever I wanted without worrying about the cost (okay, I was at Aldi and I was buying breakfast food). But I wasn't using my calculator to pay for it.  

Sometimes I get in my head with a real boo-hoo mood about life and stress and crap and who knows what else.  But the real truth is that I have it pretty darn good.  I was able to fool around with finances the past four years and make extra interest on investments which went toward the bathroom.  I had enough in my secret bank account (the envelope in my underwear drawer) to pay for my Christmas weekend.  And I have been able to stock up for the next four years so we can ride out whatever silly financial decisions our country makes (hopefully). 

And if I didn't spend enough at the grocery store (the total seemed lower than I was expecting), the pizza places open at noon and we can get delivery.  

Merry Christmas!  (luckily I just received a case of kleenex too).