Watcha doing today?

[Littlesister]

I'm tired and need a nap. I did lay on couch for 10 minutes while the baby took a nap. Yep. I fell asleep to. But woke up before she did. We both played hard. She loves her new ball. So, we rolled the ball to each other once she learned what to do. She had lunch and then played some more. She is pulling up on everything now so not long before she will be walking. DGD and her DH talked about her working. She didn't get the job she applied for as it is way to competitive and she was overqualified. The plan was for her to be a stay-at-home mom but not before he moved up the ladder a bit more. But they will make it without that second paycheck. They took all the baby food home that I canned. So, she is set for a long while. DGS left for N.C. around 11 this morning. He texted me that he got to the hotel with no issues. Three-hour drive. Said he is going to take a nap. Before going to his girlfriend's house. 

I have almost 3 days with no interruptions now so going to take advantage of that. 

DGD is now 10 weeks along in her pregnancy and is starting to feel better now. Still gets tired easy but not the nauseous feeling she was having. So at least she is getting past those first stages now. She asked if I would keep the baby once or twice a week. So, I am going back to babysitting as she is pulling her out of the daycare now that she won't be working. Next week will be her last week. That will give her a chance to rest up and get some things done around the house. With her pulling up and things now she is a 100% all eyes on what she is doing. Though she does put her in a huge playpen to play but doesn't want her in it all day. 

I am going to enjoy my free time while I can. Peace and quiet with no interruptions. 

[Jeepers]

LOL  My kinda canner.  

[Becca_Anne]

Just to let everyone know I am traveling for work this week and trying to keep up on my phone is too challenging. I'll post some pics when I get back but I got to visit with my daughter and grandson last weekend so I'm super happy. 

[Jeepers]

Safe travels and do post pictures! I know how challenging it is to use a phone here. We'll be here when you get back. I know you loved seeing that grand baby! 

[Mother]

Have a great week, Becca_Anne!  Safe travels.  

[Midnightmom]

20 hours ago, euphrasyne said:

(yes I have Scots/Irish DNA, what is different is that both grandparents on the maternal side had full Cherokee grandmothers, it shows less on the skin.)  If you were ever wondering what happens when a Cherokee marries an Irishman look no further than bottom right at Rabekah.  

 

Are you familiar with "Appalachia's Homestead with Patara" YT channel? Same heritage, including the Cherokee. She has traced her roots back to The War for Independence and has forefathers who fought at King's Mountain.

 

She is mostly a homesteading channel but has been concentrating on preparing for what might come in and after November for some time now. You might find her channel interesting, or, she may not be your cup of tea. Just thought I'd mention her to you. 

[Mt_Rider]

Safe travels, BeccaAnne.   

 

We're STILL getting really hot in the afternoon.  But...with no humidity to keep the heat down, it flies away when the sun goes down!    Ack....just realized I'm getting up early AGAIN ....horse ride tomorrow.  Have to schedule mornings due to afternoon thunderstorms.  We *almost* got rain today.  A few sprinkles.  CO is getting more wildfires popping up.  I realllllllllly do not want to deal with wildfire evac.    Too much on my plate right now!   

 

Got our car back all repaired.  That was even hot driving 2 miles - without any A/C in my truck.  Didn't get much done - yesterday was full.  Tomorrow will be too with riding.  Sooooo....

 

MtRider   

[Jeepers]

@Mt_Rider Glad you got your car fixed. One less thing to think about. I know about a hot vehicle. My Jeep is still without AC. I don't have a ride to and from the repair place. I try to schedule trips and errands either early morning or late afternoon when the sun isn't so hot.  I took GS shopping one day and even he complained about it. When a little kid notices, it's pretty bad. 

 

@Midnightmom I watch her too. She tell it like it is without being hateful about it. I like her. She has the cutest goats.  

[Jeepers]

I'm glad I get cash back on my charge cards. I'm going to be rolling in the dough pretty soon.  

 

With paying for the move, the attic clean out. DIL trip to Costco, GS school clothes and I ordered myself a new Kindle reader, Kindle fire and laptop plus I still have to fund a handy man to fix the chimney and leaky kitchen sink...I'm broke! At least I'll get 2% of it all back. I'll take it! 

 

Since evidently I threw away my electronics, if I had to buy new ones, this was the best time to do it. I was going to wait for awhile because I have no internet, but this week is Ohio's back to school tax free week so all the electronics and GS school clothes were tax free. I saved a bundle. 

 

Each item had to be less than $500 and luckily I found a really nice HP 17.2 inch  laptop for $450. And it was 5% off and it comes with a lifetime Microsoft Office program. Some only had 12 months free Office. I use a lot of Word documents and I was going to buy the program out right. So that saved. I was almost going to go with a 15 inch but with my eyesight, I figured I'd go with the 17 inch. Most were close to the same price anyway. I always buy my computers at Best Buy (Geek Squad) but I wasn't feeling it this year. I looked at them online and the ones I was interested in were sold out. Probably because of our sale here. 

 

I'm not spending any more money for awhile! It's been an expensive month. 

[snapshotmiki]

Hope you have a spend free month @Jeepers.  I don't have a/c in my jeep either.  And down here, that is no joke!

Hope you have a nice ride @Mt_Rider!

I hope you have a relaxing and productive weekend @Littlesister!  

 

Already walked with Bo and then walked dogs.
Went to local grocery to drop off some banana bread and Dollar General for DH.
Cleaned bathrooms at Church and straightened hymnals.
Next, will pull up what is left of my sad little garden in lick tubs.
Label and put away canned 4 bean salad.

[Littlesister]

Have a safe trip Becca Anne. 

 

I must say my house has been very quiet and I am enjoying it. Been cleaning out the kitchen cabinet over the oven as GS made a mess of it. Nothing gets put back where he found it. He made it to the hotel yesterday. Three-hour trip. Said he was tired. Guess I will hear about his adventure when he gets home tomorrow evening.  

I am just so tired and getting to a point I can't fight it anymore. Don't know what is going on. Just very tired for a few days now. But at least I got the cabinet cleaned out and a few other things that needed to be done. I am thinking about hiring someone to move the furniture for me. I am tired of waiting for the kids to help me as it is now about 3 months, and they still haven't helped. Just we are coming down to help you get things done. But it doesn't happen. Now my DGD wants me to babysit 2 times a week. No wonder I can't get anything done. I love keeping her but it's time for kids to help me around here a bit. Seems between DGD and DGS I don't get what I need to do around here done so I can finish cleaning up the house. But until GS goes into the Coast Guard which I am having my doubts, and DGD's DH gets transferred I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I will be looking to get a locksmith for the patio door and hopefully find someone to help me move this furniture. If it wasn't so heavy I would do it by myself. But then I might make my knee, neck and shoulder even worse. I am waiting for cooler weather to start back on the garage. That is a disaster. GS has shoved things everywhere and boxes of things I needed to go through has been tossed all over the place. 

And I wonder why I am so tired. I am now to a point I might just load it up and drop it all off at Goodwill and not even go through it. 

[Jeepers]

My Jeep AC last week was set at 4-75

 

All 4 windows rolled down going 75 MPH down the road. I can only imagine down south. 

[Littlesister]

Jeepers, they call that free and old fashion air conditioning. 

 

Got the kitchen cabinet cleaned out and everything other than the plastic containers back in there. Going through a lot of plastic bowls and freezer containers. I don't need all of the plastic, so boxing it up to go. Will only keep a few freezer containers. The rest is out of here. I got rid of a lot of plastic back a year ago. I don't know how it keeps showing up. DGD did help me go through that over a year ago when she and her DH was living here.  But more of it keeps popping up. Trying to downsize is not as easy as I thought. There is stuff everywhere and needs to go. 

Edited August 4 by Littlesister
Hit save before I finished again.

[themartianchick]

Hi, everyone!

Sheeesh...Miss a few days here and you miss a LOT! I spent the last few days of July wrapping up a project for my client and got it submitted in the nick of time. Then, Ron and I made a run for the border...Canadian Border, that is! We are staying in an Airbnb in a suburb of Toronto. This weekend is the Caribana Caribbean Festival and we didn't want to miss it. Yesterday was a competition for steel drum bands and today was the big parade. It lasted all day long. We didn't eat much, so we caught the train back to the Airbnb and then got some dinner. We are now spending a relaxing evening in.

 

*Had 2 interesting conversations with people at Whole Foods-Canada during this trip. Somehow, we ended up in deep discussions about life/money/retirement. One woman spent $645 to buy groceries for her family. This was for one week. She and her husband were buying groceries for themselves, four kids and then the kids' girlfriends/boyfriends. She was almost boasting about it, while grumbling about the high price of everything. I held my tongue but I kept thinking, "Why on earth are you shopping for groceries at Whole Foods for a family, when the cost is so high?" Canada has a lot of low-cost grocery stores, similar Aldi, Price Riteor Save A Lot.

 

The 2nd conversation involved a man in his 40s who was shocked to learn that my hubby was retired and had been for nearly a decade. He started asking a lot of questions and seemed intrigued about the planning process in the US. He was only at Whole Foods to purchase 2 individual desserts for dinner. He explained that saving $600,000 wouldn't be enough to allow him to retire, even when coupled with the Canadian version of Social Security. These conversations made me aware of the fact that our inflation in the US is being experienced by other countries around the world.

 

[Mt_Rider]

Ugh....another early ( 7:30AM....but it's early for this night owl!)  morning but glad I wasn't out in the later "heat".  Yeah, I know.  Our dry heat is pretty nice compared to .....Miki's house!     But at the end of the horse ride, I was ready for A/C.  Our car, back from the mechanic neighbor, still doesn't have great A/C. 

 

By the time we got home, I was not feeling well at all.  ???  DH and I figure it's a combination of some heat, and riding a completely different horse today.  M is their tallest/largest horse.  And he's a stinker to the other horses.  Saw the one tied next to him, swivel around and give his fore leg a smack with his rear leg.  .....I have no trouble believing that it was warranted.  M came into the herd, not born there like most.  My usual horse was 'rented out' for the week and not back yet.  I've ridden M before and his gait is very good for me.  But it is strong motion.  So.. I'm      Probably got a little too much heat for me as well.  So we ate...something and I lay down/half propped up due to a headache too.  Read Kindle and probably fell asleep for a bit too.  Then...I was feeling more normal.  

 

MtRider  ...supper time   

Edited August 4 by Mt_Rider

[Midnightmom]

@Jeepers Here is a handy-dandy way to get all of those new (house) keys onto your key ring! 

 

This is a small piece of a drinking straw slipped between the two pieces of the key ring; then you slip the key over the straw and slide it into place. Saw it on a "reel" on FB today.

 

[euphrasyne]

I have seen and like Appalasia on youtube.  My grandmother who is in hospice was seriously interested in genealogy.  She traced us back to the 1500s on her side.  Apparently, her paternal side is down the brother of Robert E. Lee and a lot of French aristocracy. We had a lot of family on each side of the Civil War and I have a lot of decorated family in the military including grandmother's uncle, Huburt Lee who got the Concretional Medal of Honor. Other notable was Charles Lee who was court-martialed.  Apparently grandmother's paternal side had a lot of things going on.  Her father (aka Big Papaw) and stepfather's both had purple hearts from Korea.  The maternal side is Irish and Cherokee.  My paternal grandmother was an O'Neil who immigrated from Ireland.  So I have  a lot of Irish.  DNA test said I'm mostly Scots.  (This house does more military than most, we birth and marry it.)  Some would say we are brave, I disagree.  We are crazy and stubborn and proud of being crazy and stubborn.  It is a family thing and it shows on each one of us.

Edited August 4 by euphrasyne

[Littlesister]

That is interesting euphrasyne.  I haven't done that for my family but have been thinking about it. Just haven't had the time to sit down and do it. But maybe someday I will have that chance. I do know that I have a lot of Scottish and Irish on my mother's side of the family. But want to also find out about my father's side. That will be a bit harder as he was adopted and nothing about his real family that we know of. 

[Littlesister]

I hit that stupid save button again. That is getting old. So just not going to edit this time. 

 

Been busy this morning going through a big box of kitchen stuff that is sitting in middle of garage. Most of it is heading to Goodwill. I don't need all those plastic bowls and things. I am only saving the freezer containers as I do use those for freezer a lot. 

DGS will be heading back home sometime this evening. I think check out time is a 2pm and it is a 3-hour drive. I got that one cabinet cleaned out over the oven yesterday. There were tops with no bowls that GS must have thrown out or is in his car. Not sure why only tops and no bottoms. But he did tear that cabinet up just throwing things in there that didn't belong in there. So, no more plastic bowls are going up there. 

Last night my knee was swollen twice its size and very sore. So, I am thinking it is definitely a meniscus tear. So, need to get an MRI of knee and find a different ortho doctor. I have the name of two, so just need to decide on which one is better. 

 

Will be heading to Goodwill tomorrow morning at some point to drop off the boxes of stuff and get them out of my car. Glad to see more mess leaving this house. Need to also get with DGD to help me put some items on internet to sell. She is good at that. I have nicknacks and pictures that I would rather sell than just give away so I will give her that job. 

 

 

[Simply~A~Snow]

So when I signed on earlier this week I forgot that I had previously changed my account name from ANewMe to Simply~A~Snow a while back due to account issues. 

 

I have been looking hard for a new Church and I think I finally found one. I just got home and decided to take a break. It has been a busy week. 

Since I was here a couple of years ago so much has changed. Our oldest son and wife gave us our first grandbaby in Feb and can you believe they have another due in December!!!! We are floored and I think they are still in shock since they had such a difficult time with the first one. We are ecstatic!. Our middle son proposed to his girlfriend this past week and I have been wedding planning this week. I am just absolutely overjoyed with all of God's Blessings.

 

DH came home from offshore early this morning so I've got a big meal planned for the afternoon. He has to go to Dr to set up some further test due to an abnormal test result he just received. I'd lie if I said I wasn't nervous but trying to not worry until we know if there is something to actually be worried about.

I plan to spend the rest of the day working on a grocery list. World events have really got me on edge and I am hoping to fill in some holes. Other than that I'm taking it easy and reading back through old threads here. I backed into this site way back around 2006 and always loved it. It's amazing how an online community can feel like home. After joining I planted a garden and water bath canned for the 1st time and baked bread for the first time. Ready to get back to doing that fun stuff now that I have time!!

Praying for all of you and your family this week!!

[Mother]

 Anewme!  Welcome back!  

[Littlesister]

Simply-A-Snow, glad to have you back.  Sounds like you are going to be really busy for a while. And congratulations on your new grandbabies.  My DGD had a baby almost 10 months ago now and is 10 weeks along with the second one now. So, I will have 2 great grandbabies come the first part of March. 

 

I must be out of my mind today. I started working on the garage since it is a cooler day today. Got a lot of trash out of there and emptied one huge box of small appliances and plasticware. So been washing all of that stuff up and trying to decide what I really need to keep and what needs to go to Goodwill. That one box put a huge dent in the floor of garage. Still a long way to go but had to come to a stopping point. Dishwasher is full of plastic and other things, and I had to wash down the appliances. Plus, I have hand washed a sink load of stuff and still have a sink load to wash. I need to start drying some dishes and plasticware. 

[Midnightmom]

7 hours ago, Littlesister said:

That is interesting euphrasyne.  I haven't done that for my family but have been thinking about it. Just haven't had the time to sit down and do it. But maybe someday I will have that chance. I do know that I have a lot of Scottish and Irish on my mother's side of the family. But want to also find out about my father's side. That will be a bit harder as he was adopted and nothing about his real family that we know of. 

My husband was also adopted and when we were expecting our first baby (1982) we decided to try and find out a medical history for him. We used an advocacy group and with their hint & tips we eventually found his birthmom (even though the adoption record was "sealed).

Nowadays it might be as simple as submitting his DNA to an online registry of people looking for long lost relatives or those seeking to find those who went through adoptions. It you're really interested in searching, I think I would research some of those sites to use as a beginning point and to learn how to make contact when/if you actually find a lead you want to investigate. Good luck. 

[Jeepers]

@euphrasyne. Cool about your family history. I had my mother's traced back to the 1700 but lost it. Now I can't think of some of the names. I'd like to start again when I get more time. If I see the names I'll recognize them though. One of my Ggrandmother and my GGgrandmother was named Louisa and one was named Laura. But I can't remember which was which. There was a surname Gillaspie (sp) in there someplace. Sounds Irish or Scottish? I think half of us cousins (about 30) have the middle name of Lee. It was my fathers and his mothers middle name too. I got D-ex fraternal family names back to the 1700 too. I was mostly doing it for the GS. D-ex GGgrandmother was full Indian but they didn't remember which tribe. 

 

@Midnightmom I'd like to do something like that too. But if I have to pay a monthly fee, I want to wait until I actually have time to use it. D-ex did something like that 23 and me and it showed zero Indian (native) blood. We knew that wasn't true because he knew his Ggrandma and she was 1/2. 

 

@Littlesister  I agree about downsizing.  It isn't easy. I went through a lot of my storage bowls and pitched a lot of them too. Don't why I was keeping them all. I rarely store left overs for long because I eat them the next day. Two or three bowls with lids would have been enough. Not an entire cabinet full. I probably kept them because they were free when I bought something from the deli. Kinda like the Classico spaghetti jars that are accumulating. Sigh. 

 

@Simply~A~Snow Welcome Home!!! I remember your old name. Congratulations on your expanding family. Such exciting times for you. I've been trying to plug up some of my holes with canning this year. I was down to nothing. Not a very reassuring feeling. Prayers for your DH. Not knowing can be the hardest part. 🙏💙🙏

[Littlesister]

Midnight Mom, my dad was born in Florida and the records are sealed.  Though he passed away at the age of 50 from a 3ed heart attack back in 1975. So, I think I can now get those records opened with just sending a death certificate. A few years ago, they wanted $1000 to open the records and I wasn't going to pay that. I do know that his parents were maybe Syrian or at least his father was. Found out his mother was killed in a car crash when he was little, and his father was injured so bad he couldn't take care of my dad. So, he was put in a home. So far that is about all I was able to find out. 

 

Been working on the garage all day. I can see the floor now.  It is a mess out there. Got the things in the huge box washed up and gone through to either keep what I needed, and the rest is now packed up for Goodwill.  If weather is still cool tomorrow, I will be going through more things. My trash day isn't till Thursday, and I am already filling up the trash cans. And I have boxes to tear down for recycle as well.