Thanks Striving and Bless. You both have quite the workouts going!

Beaglelady: Welcome aboard. Congrats on the new job! I'm sure you'll do well. You seem to have the right combo of level headedness and empathy. I am so impressed by all that you've accomplished in the past year...

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I ended up uploading some photos and chatting with a DC, so didn't get done what I intended, but it was all good anyway.

Yesterday went well. I had a new scrapbook kit arrive and had some fun playing with it.

Today, my body needed a rest, so I did a few loads of laundry, did some more scrapbooking and read a couple of books. I ended up not having to babysit.

Day 5: with scrapbooking, I've slipped up on the ETEing, so I need to do an adjustment in the a.m. More scrapbooking, desk day, and start digging out the MBR.

Beaglelady: Congrats on the new job! I'm happy that you were able to find something so fast. Good JOB!

I'm taking baby steps and will get a few more things accomplished. I'll be back later to post.

Today, I did some of the grocery and supplies shopping for Sunday's event and started on the advance cooking.

Called and reminded everyone and verified what dishes they will be bringing.

Tomorrow, I plan to do the rest of the grocery shopping and more cooking. And clean the house (was planning to do it today, but didn't).

Today, I did the rest of the grocery shopping, most of the cooking and most of the cleaning for tomorrow's event. Also, picked up my friend who came to help me and took DD to her interview.

Will do the last of the cleaning and the rest of the cooking tomorrow morning. I need to have everything ready by 10:30 a.m.

Bless: by now, you will have the almsgiving behind you. Hopefully you have a clean house and leftovers so that you can just focus on taxes this week!

Striving: I know that you are accomplishing lots as we speak...

BL: How are you doing? I think i've read that you've made great progress on the taxes! I know that that has been something you've worked on for a long time.

I feel like I'm falling down on the job. The girls re-enacted the penpal picnic and pulled almost every game off the shelf. To their credit there isn't game pieces strewn from one end of the house to the other, but I feel like their is. DD has been struggling with her project. She is to use 100 of the same household object to make a picture of an object. She decided to use qtips, but didn't want my help. So, she has used 50, her enthusiam has waned, her page is full and the house wreaks of glue.

I came home from dmil with a bag full of clothes for me. They all (but one) fit and are things that I can use. Now to find a place for them...

Dd has put together an *old lady* costume (she looks great!) but there are dress ups everywhere.

I've had a headache for 3-4 days now.

Okay, deep breathes, we can do a power clean up before dinner. I can run the vacuum while they are in the tub. Get the machines humming and we'll be back on track. There's a chance there will be a late start tomorrow at school ~ I don't think they will cancel it completely. Depends on how much it snows/drifts tonight.

I did finish getting the family portraits mailed. I did go through the basket of baby/doll clothes. I have a bag of donations ready to go. We also had a ton of fun yesterday outside after DD's bball practice.

Maureen, hope your headache goes away! Hope you were able to get the games and the dress up clothes put away.

I do,indeed, have the almsgiving behind me and a clean house and leftovers! Still need to put away the washed dishes and do the laundry. But I got a bit over-tired today, which resulted in a wheezing attack (the same thing happened yesterday, too!) so, have been ordered by my friend and my DD to rest!

I sort of ran out of steam with my cleaning and preparations and as a result, papers ended up being thrown together in a bag to get them out of the way! So now, I have to go back to square one and resort everything! So, that's a step backwards for me.

Me too! I was able to get the games and dress ups put away. Still need to take the dress up bin downstairs again ~ preferrably before it gets emptied

I'm feeling much better about the house. I did desk day and paid the bills.

School is starting 1hr late for sure, which should enable me to empty the DW, put away the clean dishes, vacuum the floor and start the laundry. Also help DD finish her thank yous, and hopefully her project. And get the trash out and to the street.

Then, I will be able to re-assess and see where I am at...

How are you doing?

All of my kids started getting sick on Friday evening. By Saturday everyone was down and out. That meant extra bedding to wash due to people not getting to the bathroom in time.

Not much was accomplished on my list, but other areas there was much achievement.

Striving: By the sounds of it the first part of your weekend was pukey and the second *super*. Hope everyone is feeling better.

I was able to get things pretty good here this a.m. I also spent quite a bit of time shoveling snow. When I first started shoveling it was pretty nice, went into the house to supervise getting ready for school and by the time we went to the bus the wind had really picked up. Went to school at lunch time and my day fell apart by the time I left. By the time I got home after running errands what I had shoveled was all drifted in. I just decided to leave it until the wind goes down... If I can get out in the a.m. I can get out and if not, we'll get out when we can.

I got Dd's valentines made, although she doesn't want to sign them...

DD2 and I cried most of the afternoon, DD1 came home from school crying and then DD1 got sick. Now, I have a different type of headache...

The house is upside down again, but at least I know it can be put to order quickly enough. This evening:

wash dishes/clean kitchen/table
put away food
3 loads of laundry
p/u toys
clean up craft area
do something soothing

Canadagirl: At least my weekend wasn't "Super Pukey" it was just "Pukey Super".

I'm getting worried about you. Get the basics done, and monitor your energy and needs. It's tough when the kids are sick and crying. I can only imagine how much you're missing DH/Daddy.

Is there something simple that you can all do together each day that is special until Daddy gets home? Read, color, play dough, puzzles?

I'm feeling for you and hope that you can find ways to structure your day without making yourself sick or stressed.

Take Care and I'm sending hugs over the miles of drifting frigid snow and cold.