March 01, Friday

[karlinann]

Good morning Rounders! My computer has already crashed once and I'm hoping I'll be able to get through this post. The place where we get our taxes done has really grown and she said they had combined her husbands office across town with this office here and they have another family member working with them, so now they are all working out of the same office and business is good. We also found out that you can only get the forms online now and it's 8 pages of stuff to fill out and she said most people end up coming to them to fill it out because it's difficult. I told her not to worry, we'll be coming to her every year. So, it's been a couple of years since we got money back, and believe me it's only a small amount. It's all good though.

After lunch yesterday, (Roast Beef with horseradish), we both got outside for a bit of sun. I sent your share to you Maxie. I placed my framework for the seedbed/compost pile and filled it with leaves. It will be turning into soil eventually and that will be my place to start my seedlings in the future.

Remember the show, Chicago PD? We did not watch it when it was on years ago, but now it comes on all day on Thursdays and it is really good. It's on ION television if you get that network. Good show, good actors, good plots. Grab the popcorn.

Today is Friday and the first day of a great month. Cookielady, I did not see you post yesterday. Are you ok? Hi Aunt Maye! Peace and Plenty.

[bethina]

Good morning. Waiting to go work out then onto work. Tonight I am going out with a group

[JoGee]

Good morning, everyone.

I am feeling better today. Except I am sneezing quite a bit. Has to be allergies. Our weather is nice, sunny, gets to the high 70’s today and tomorrow. Yesterday we didn’t want a full supper, so I made hamburgers with a side of Costco’s potato salad. Though the hamburgers were normal size, I could only eat 2/3 of mine. I couldn’t eat the whole burger. He worries when I do that, but some days are like that. I’d be worse off if I force myself to eat.

No birds have settled around here yet. Since a couple of new neighborhoods are being or have been built nearby, once that land was cleared of its natural vegetation even our neighborhood is scarce of birds. I did so enjoy the chirping before. The pigeons or doves have not come back, but they are the messiest birds; the doves were like roosters, starting their loud and unwelcome songs at the crack of dawn.

Today E has to pick up his regular prescriptions. I plan to go with him just to walk around the store. We also have a trunk full of stuff that we will drop off at Goodwill today. Tonight E goes to dinner with his friend. I will just stay home, happily.

Well, I hope today will be interesting. I hope E doesn’t overdo cleaning out stuff, excess lifting, etc.; that’s when he gets the chest pains. He is just happy to see a light at the end of the garage. He found a whole box full of kaleidoscopes he had collected, only a few are duplicates. I cleaned and wrapped them into a carton her. We threw out the ones that were damaged by the heat.....pity, they were bright oil based colors, just beautiful; but the oil dried up into a black smudge. You would be surprised how many distinctly different kaleidoscopes have been created! But the rest of these, one daughter really wants. She already took our big complicated one that we bought for almost $200 at a Renaissance Faire. It’s a piece of art in itself.

Karlinann, my grandparents had a huge garbage container behind her garden. All plant clippings and raw kitchen scraps (no meats) went into it. At the end of “harvest season” my granddad would dig up the garden area, mixing the resulting compost in the container into the soil. Come springtime, he would hand-plow the garden again, mixing in the winter scraps. Other than that, my grandma would weed the garden with a hoe and take care of the growing plants. The garden took up one plat of property. But the garden was beautiful, and the veggies were always picture perfect. Compost was the perfect fertilizer, and I never saw them use bug sprays or any chemicals.
My mom would take our daily kitchen scraps, chop them up very finely, and take them to her flower beds to work them into the soil. I swear, nobody had flowers like my mom. Especially the roses.

I hope everyone is bearing with the crazy weather okay. Stay warm and stay well. ☀️ And think happy thoughts. Have a good day!

[Paula A]

I haven't checked outside yet, but hope today is like yesterday and we can say March is coming in like a Lamb, but on the other hand, I can take one more bad day if we can start having Spring and then March can proceed like a lamb and no more lion days!
So Happy Friday and what took it so long?!
Babies just make the week a bit longer, although things are going better.

My food person came yesterday and at lunch time. We ahd just come in from outside and the big kids were sitting so nicely at the table. you would have thought I knew she was coming. (I had given up and thought she would be coming later this month.) I did have food ready and I was using my plastic trays rather than the paper plates I normally use. It makes it much easier for anyone from the food program to see what I am serving (although she asks) and how big the servings are. Size of serving is one of the things you an be cited on: although we all know how much kids will eat, FDA says I have to serve a certain size portion.
Having just been outside and able to run around and play on the whole yard the kids were hungry and quiet! So a good visit and the next should be in May and I think we have a Federal visit that will be a surprise and usually comes in June...the last time I got one of those the woman came by herself and did not come at a serving time so she stayed until I served lunch!!! Ugh. Doing daycare under the watchful eye of a FEderal stranger (she was nice) was a bit disconcerting. As soon as she left I texted my food office and let them know I had a visit. They did not know about it...usually the office gets the first visit and the names are selected there and a local person goes with them.
I always do well on these visits but I would think with all the providers in my area I would not have my name coming up so often.

anyway, the kaleidoscopes sound wonderful! I used to buy the ones that did not have stones in them but just mirrors and whatever you looked at became the distorted scene. Ialso bought some of the regular ones but only when we went somewhere with a nicer educational store or a museum type store. the party favor ones just don't last. What a grat item to collect!

And I am going to start saving my kitchen scraps, minus the meat. The soil here really needs all the help it can get. My side of town never flooded so we don't have the super nice soil the other side has where the river used to flood and bring all kinds of top soil...and water, so that is a plus for us.

I gave Becky money to get my mom and I Chinese for lunch. I want some egg foo young and don't want the dinner size so this is a good solution. and after hearing how good the pretzels are in the air fryer I want that for this weekend snack time.

Karlinann, I will check out Chicago PD.
Beth, good to hear you feel good enough to go work out.
And those exercises for the sciatic nerve problem have helped so much! I appreciate all the examples you have posted.

I have to get moving away form the computer and toward the daycare. The calendar and all the February stuff have to come down from the walls.
Payday today, too, so another good thing about Friday! Parents and the retirement fund pay on the 1st. (Well the parents of 4 kids pay on the 1st.)
And so I hope you all have a wonderful day of Peace and Plenty as Karlinann says and Plenty of what you need!

[maxie]

Good Morning! Going to be another cold day....just tried to make the font larger and it increased the size of the post in front of me but I am still squinting below here. I'll have Sierra look at it but that depends on her mood. Sometimes we are not important enough to help.

Yesterday lunch with my brothers and sils was fine. Since the Texas brother has retired we have seen a lot more of him. His Mother in law is still alive and in a nursing home and his wife is very devoted. All her sisters are in this area. Weather was not bad here but I did notice this morning there are still school closing south. So sick of winter and I do appreciate the sunshine you send Karlinann.

Andrew gets out of school at noon today so the bus will be here at one...we will meet it and do the grocery shopping for the weekend. I hate taking the kid to the grocery store but he is a good hauler and there is no way I will be out of here early this morning. Did not sleep last night and moving slow this morning. Just one of those nights where you lay there. Tonight is hockey so hope I don;t take a nap during the game....sometimes I don't even feel tired and find myself waking up. Ya know?

I got nothing but gibberish to say and a mound of laundry in the hall. Jon is still sore but sleeping better...he will be home at least until Tuesday. It has not been bad having him around since he cooks but he organizes and that drives me crazy. But does he bend over and pick up something from the floor?

Going to add pretzels to the list and try them in the air fryer. Paula, maybe your name comes up because they know you are easy to get through since there is never a problem they have to write up or handle.

Lots to do today and on a timed schedule plus moving on limited sleep. Hate that! Have a good day..hope the sun is shining and the breeze is warm...

[cookielady]

Good Morning! The sun has been out, but just down ducked behind clouds. We got 2" of snow overnight. Suppose to get more Sunday. March definitely came in like a lion.

I didn't make it here until late yesterday & then just didn't post. My niece came for a better part of the day and we baked & did eyeglasses. Lots of talking too. She dropped out of college after Dec. and has been going for counseling. My Mom is like....don't ask her questions. Why not? It's all in how you ask. She opens right up to me. It also helps that I also deal with depression & panic attacks, so I know what she's going through. While we were waiting for the oven to pre-heat, it did it's big booming sound when it finally lite...needed new ignitor. Called right then and got an appointment for today already.

Got a nice email from Blaise's teacher. He's been struggling a bit lately at school emotionally. Well he scored #1 in his class for reading (7th grade level), and the teacher told him about it. She said he was so proud that he almost cried. For some reason he thinks he's stupid. He's not, but his grades sure make it look like he is. He's taken a real shine to the school guidance counselor, and last year she told me they are only suppose to see at student 3 or 4 times in a school year. Well she's seen Blaise way more than that. He opens up to her.

This morning was a busy one. Aunt Janet came around 9am to scoop grease balls for me & have a nice long chat. She left & then the two Sears repair guys came & did their thing. I purchased a 5 yr extended warranty on all my appliances when I purchased them 4 yrs ago. Of course my stove would act up like it has been, so the guy couldn't do anything about it. He got the oven fixed though.

Not sure what I'll get into the rest of the day. I need to make Cork some food for his lunches. He's working 6/10's. Blaise has karate. They changed the times on Friday, so he'll start earlier and of course end earlier. Kathy is picking him up there and keeping him overnight. Bringing him back tomorrow sometime. He hasn't been to church in two weeks, so thought he should be home & go with us this week plus there is to be lots of snow, so I don't want that to be Kathy's excuse for not bringing out.

It hope you ladies enjoy the soft pretzels as much as we have. Of course the mall pretzels are probably better, but the cost of these are way less.

Have a good one all!

[JoGee]

Cookie, for what it’s worth.......those who do not think they are smart, they are generally the smartest of all.
His reading has obviously put him ahead. And if you give him books on science and other things, you add to his educational knowledge. Maths will come easily once he doesn’t fear numbers. But people learn that differently.

(There is a boy who is way ahead of his classes, and this year he graduates not just from school, but from college with his first degree as well. He doesn’t think he is outstanding in any way, or any different from the boys his own age.).

E & I were talking math yesterday. It turns out I excel in simple math (I can come to the right answers staying within the decimal system). E took advanced math, and he found if he rearranges the numbers - in a way that doesn’t make sense to me at all - he comes to the right answers quickly.
When the kids were confused with “New Math” (which was never taught to me) and the teacher made no sense to them so obviously they weren’t wizards at it either.....well, I just taught all my kids basic math as I know it, and show to check the math themselves. Adding is checked by Subtracting back, and vice versa; same goes with Multiplying and Division.
That year my kids were not among the 2/3 of the school who flunked it, because they turned in the right Answers. But I had a big go-round with the math teacher and principal that year...there was no reason in the world the kids should get 4 hours of math homework every night of the week; it showed that the teachers were not qualified to teach it, and it wasn’t any of the kids who were stupid. I reported it to the school board, and that the kids were told or made to think they were dyslexic.
we moved, but the school was investigated.

[maxie]

Kids and how they learn is complex. Last year Andrew was horrible in math and this year it is all A's...he still can't read well or spell but does math that leaves me scratching my head! He will also tell you he likes his math teacher..makes a difference. With his reading ability Blaise will do fine..he just needs to come into his own. God it must be hard being a kid now a days!

We are back from shopping. Thank goodness the kid was with us. His dad cannot lift a thing without hurting yet. We have enough food to feed the masses and after putting it away it is mostly convenience food. We grabbed fast food to bring home and no sooner had the freezer filled when the kid ask what was for dinner...well, you just ate McD's and carried in boxes of frozen junk food...take your pick kid! Stores were a zoo and the girl helping me reach a top shelf said it is first of the month plus the snow storm coming in tomorrow night. Makes sense. Also makes for empty shelves. The strawberries that are out around here are delish. Andrew brought in a package last night when he and his dad ran to walmart and we bought another today since they sat and ate them all. They are just eating them whole. Did not look at what I paid but noticed people had them in their carts...big fat red strawberries...so sweet.

I am in the midst of doing a massive laundry. I picked up pretzels and may just have one when I put on my jams and watch the game. Temps still in the 30s for the day and no sun. See you all tomorrow!