Awwwwwwww STRIVING.
Hoping you are feeling better soon. What a bummer. Well, take care of you and your DH. How sweet that DS is helping out.

Things are going well, so far. Today is a quiet day and only pick up some pecans and might have to take DS2 to pick up his car, and just finish up the house cleaning.

Tomorrow fix the food, and set the table and buffet, and we should be in great shape. Love being a GONer!

Striving: Oh, no! Hope you recover soon and feel better in time for your holiday celebrations. But please try not to overdo things. That's lovely that DS is helping out.

FLU! Misery! I'm so glad DS is helping, and DH is recovering. Rest lots... if I could send you chicken soup via internet, I surely would.

***
On this Christmas Eve Eve, I'm doing alright with balance! What shopping there was is done, groceries are installed (to the great rejoicing of the family), and there's a bit of laundry to putter with tomorrow. DD-15 is finishing up the BIG gift for the little girls (DH and DS built a reading house out of PVC and canvas, and DD is painting it up Tudor-style; the whole thing collapses to store under the bunkbed.) I have a little project to do with the little girls tomorrow (they're making stuffed hens for one another out of a felted wool sweater I stashed after the Laundry Incident that caused it!). Other than that, and some lunch to assemble for the Band Sons who'll come over in the afternoon, I think I'm set.

There's wrapping, of course. I was thinking about it, and I may spend odd moments this coming year doing up fabric squares and bags, so we can stop using disposable wrappings (though we do use a lot of gift bags, so those have been reusable to some extent.)

My BIG thing is finished: a musical Christmas program at church tonight. It was SO MUCH FUN. I got to sing a duet with one of my best friends (he's the big brother I didn't have growing up!), and that was an absolute treat. We blend nicely, and he's the one person (aside from my sister) that I don't have to worry about singing over. It's fun to go full volume! Since our chapel is small, we stood well away from the mic.

I have a pigeon nattering my earlobe... time to put "Kevin" to bed and send the little girls thus-ward.

@Striving Sorry to hear about the flu. I hope you get some strength so you can attend your family get together.

Christmas Eve Fix Update:

Spiritual: I plan to attend the funeral services for one of the monks, later today. And I am looking forward to my personal tradition of watching the midnight mass from the Vatican, tonight.

Environment: DD's bed is assembled! Yay! I am looking forward to setting up the rest of her furniture, too. The sooner her bedroom is set up, the sooner I can restore the rest of the house to some semblance of order! The house is minimally decorated for the holiday; haven't put up the tree yet!

DD: Enjoyed getting together with one friend for a sleepover and another friend for a trip to the mall and lunch out, this week. She'll host a pot-luck at our house with a group of friends, next week. After that, everyone will be heading back to their different campuses.

Family: Spoke with several cousins and took the visiting cousins to their tour bus meeting point very early this morning. Will pick them up when they return on Mon. and they will spend most of next week with me.

Friends: Had one friend come by for a visit with her family and went out to lunch with office friends. Will be spending Christmas day with some long-time friends, tomorrow.

Neighbors: Will be seeing them over the holidays - as soon as I have the last of their gifts ready!

Career: I pushed myself and completed work on several projects this week, in order to be able to take next week off with a clear conscience!

Leisure: I have taken next week off from work! I have a total of 11 days off, including the 2 weekends! I am looking forward to having some time off from work, although, I do plan to do a few projects around the house.

Fun: Participating in holiday activities and visiting with family and friends

Hobbies/Crafts: Still need to finish up some holiday (Christmas/New Year) gifts to family and friends!

Time Management: The crunch is on! Need to get quite a few things done and should probably get off the computer and DO them!

Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone.

I think I'm on a high, still.

Last night's program went off splendidly, and I'm so happy! It was FUN, ran very smoothly, good participation... just all-around NICE.

Today we got up, did some tidying up, and fixed a nice "party food" sort of lunch for ourselves, our Spare Girl, and our Band Boys... tonight I've made some sausage rolls, and the cinnamon roll dough is rising now. House is generally tidy, I think the wrapping is all done (wait--two things downstairs!), and we're set to head to church first thing tomorrow.

I'm very much looking forward to year-end wrap ups and new year planning and organizing!!

Blessings to you all!

Career –Full time job is better. We had a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting last week and the project is being postponed for a few weeks. Part time job is great. Client C is moving to the same nursing home MW was in.

Health- Joined the fitness center at work and had a meeting with them last week to get a 6 wk exercise plan.

Friends/Family- Talked to G today. DH went to M&Js on Christmas Day to watch the game. I joined them after working with C. We had nice visits with the inloves the weekend before Christmas. Talked to MW’s niece and family today.

Finances- We are doing okay. I bought The Total Money Makeover book for us for Christmas. I ordered it when they were $10 and DH had bought it for me for Christmas. When he saw it on my desk, he returned his copy and bought something else. We had a good laugh over that.

DH – not much to report. No new woodworking projects. We are saving for 3 new windows so any projects may be on hold until summer.

Pet- I brought Murf to see MW and JB on Christmas Eve day. MW had a sharp decline on Thurs. We got to her room and normally Murf jumps on the bed and she wakes up
and smiles and he starts licking her hands and face. This time he didn’t do that. I called MW’s name and she did not respond. I picked Murf up and brought him closer to her and she opened one eye and closed it again. He never moved. He knew something had changed. Pets are so smart that way. I knew it would the last time we would see her.

Community- I am visiting my clients twice a month.

MW (aka Msclient) passed away this morning. It was a few minutes after midnight and I hope she saw the angels in heaven celebrating Christmas. I will miss her. RIP dear friend.

((HUGS)) Frugal, I'm sorry that MW passed away, but glad that she is no longer suffering.

Frugal, I'm so sorry about MW. I'm glad you were able to bring Murf to visit.

(Too funny on the Ramsey book!)

We're having a quiet boxing day... we condensed and hauled out the wrappings, which has me seriously leaning to using a serger to finish the edges of cloth squares for use next year. No waste, and it could be a nice re-use of thrifted tablecloths (I can work around stains, no problem!) etc.

I'm very excited to do some mucking out of my "Craft Dungeon", and get the new booklists for school going (that's on tomorrow's list, with a visit to the library.)

I've plumped up my brain with a re-reading of a book called The Hiding Place (by Corrie ten Boom); that's definitely on the reading list for my big kids this coming month.

Two baskets of laundry to fold. Mucking out the sewing stuff will yield a huge stack of Little Girl project fabric, so it's a brilliant time to plan some assembly-line sewing, and re-vamp their wardrobes completely. While a lot of their current stuff still fits, I'm ready to donate it and start with some new Mama-made things. Loads of dresses.

Health: some sort of lingering muck has us firmly in grasp, so we're all resting a lot and just cocooning. I'm fine with that.

Finances/Work: much to do, and I'm grateful for work opportunities. I'm hopeful about a contract that would be a rush job, but financially productive. I have a stack of work projects to finish, as well, with great potential for income, so that's good. As always, Time Management is my big thing! Gotta do more, and better, without losing balance in other areas!

Liz, it really helps to 'block' your day, time management depends on planned tasks that were prioritized. I was able to identify problem area when I tracked what I was doing for a week. I printed out each day as 30 minute segments and filled in what I actually did from feet hit the floor AM to bedtime routine.

I discovered that interruptions 'ran' my days, not deadlines or events. Once I assigned specific time segments for priorities, and remained realistic, I was able to meet my goals/self imposed deadlines.