((((MORE HUGS)))))

Blech. Just did my bio labster assignment. I did ok. Kept screwing up on one answer, tho I was able to figure out all the others just fine. I'll redo it and get the right answer now that I know which one it is :P I will have to read over my notes and make sure I got what I needed for that too, for the exam. FFFFFFUUUUUUUNNNNNNN I think I got most, if not all of it. I just don't exactly understand what I've got hahahaha :P

On a brighter note - I found out I can switch to a different Associates program which will allow me to take some childhood education classes instead of more history, math and science!! YAAAAY However, I have emailed Mercer (the school I want to transfer to, to get the Bachelors) and making sure the classes from SCTC will transfer before I take them. I will need to take 10 classes instead of 9 more classes to finish the Associates, but if the classes I take can count towards the Bachelors program too, why not??!!! I wish this program (from Mercer) had been showing 2yrs ago when I first started looking into this whole mess - but either way, I think I still would have needed to take some of the basic classes I did take anyway, so its all good. The only program I saw from them back then was a K-12 program which I was NOT going to take. I WILL REFUUUUUUSE a K-12 program. I want a birth-5 or Birth-K program. So that I cannot be moved out of PreK unless its only to Kindergarten heheheh!

Oh - AND I found out if I take THREE classes (9 credit hours) instead of 2 classes (6 credit hours) - I will only have to pay like $35 in tuition for the semester :o Whaaat???? Silly me. Here I've paid $120 and $230 the past two semesters. Eh It all evened out - since they paid ME the first two semesters!!! LOL (thanks to covid relief funds!)

Hmm wait. I just redid my math, and I still should only need 9 classes. Hm. I swear the ladies yesterday were saying 28hours needed, but its only 27. 61hrs total - the 27 I already have plus the 7 I am earning right now (34 total) = 27 left to earn. 3hrs per class = 9 classes. There are 12 ECCE (early childhood/care education) classes listed in the new associate's program, one of which I think I cannot do (its a practicum). Well. Either way I have to wait and see what Mercer says about transferring them. I'm wondering now if they weren't counting my lab credit hour? Hmm... (English 3hr, Bio 3hr, Bio Lab 1hr)

Woke up to another hellish day and it’s only 8.17am. It’s going to be a long old day. So far not heard from dad or the hospital which is a bonus.

Aww sorry to hear your morning has started off badly. Hope it becomes a better day, at least in a little way :)

Ooo Luce, so sorry to see you're dealing w/ all that at once. Seems like the parent needs some tough love that they gave us as kids. That's a lot of siblings of his that could be sharing the needed help so don't let it all fall on you. The timing is uncanny, though. Seems as if the universe is helping out by keeping you busy w/ another project so that better choices can be made for his care that are more conducive to everyone.

What's up w/ those long hours? Is that normal?

Installing central air is so pricey... I'm surprised they're doing it. Maybe with a smart meter so they can control your electric output. That's the kind of stuff I read about w/ the UK. Gas shortages, food crisis, and rolling brownouts. (I don't read stuff off of social media.)

Kat, you live, breathe and eat school stuff. 😂 I think you do have other things to talk about but you don't like to. ;) The ciser is definitely worth the wait! I got into making things b/c I don't want to pay ridiculous prices for things I can do myself. Mead type stuff would be hard to find anyway and organic honey is not cheap so I imagine that a seller would charge WAY more than what I can make it for. (The 5lb of orange blossom honey that I got was plus $35 from ebay.)

Glad to see you're enjoying your job, Mieke!

Omg ladies, I can't wait until the elections are over with so they stop w/ all these STUPID POLITICAL ADS!!!

Umm the only other thing I do besides school is play on here, play Farmville on Facebook and sometimes read for enjoyment. I don't go anywhere or do anything exciting or fun (like mieke, I'm always jealous of her getting to do fun things with her kids...I know I did some when mine were younger but now they are older so not as interested) And the only other major event in my life is my seperation which is not a fun subject to discuss. So. Yea. Not going there unless I really feel the urge/need to.

Yeah I don't do anything exciting either. The weather has been nicer than it was earlier in October and I wish there were closer, outdoorsy things to do. I wanted to do some fishing on the camping trip that never happened so now I'm stuck looking at pay for lakes.

Then there's always the not so fun stuff to do, which is cutting down old stuff from the gardens and trying to prep them for next year...and I rarely do this, lol. BUT, since it's going to be so nice this weekend (low 70's) I think being outside and doing some work will do me good.

My brother is still hanging around which this week, has been getting on my nerves b/c I got paid and had plenty of running around to do but now I have to wait until the evening when he gets off work, since he uses my car everyday, and I hate dealing w/ evening traffic and doing things basically in the dark, now. That and the fact that I've been really tired and achy (pms and now I've started) and I'm super tired in the evenings. Not really sure how to combat that but I just know that if I had my car, I would be doing what I need to do during my lunch break or right after work, which is 2:30, and then passing out earlier.

I don't even want to do more in my yard besides cut the grass anymore. Everything I try just dies. Even my apple trees, I was so excited they actually had quite a few apples! Bug ate. Meh. The flowers that the girls in youth group and I planted, I brought home the rest and planted them in pots. Died. Raspberry bush that said it grows great best in a pot....died. I give up. Grass and weeds are my lot and I'll just use the mower to take care of it.

That’s the normal hours. I tend to do more as I don’t get to complete all my work.

We get a 5k grant for the heating then we have to pay 10k and in January we’re getting solar panels installed which is another 7k. Ian’s done all the maths and it’ll be cheaper in the long run.

I went round to his to get the house tidy as he’s coming home Sunday. Since mum died in 2018 he’s never let me in the house other than the kitchen. Well now I know why. The master bedroom was a tip. You couldn’t see the floor, he left used bath water in the bath..l I had to put my hand in it to pull the plug 🤢 he left underwear in the hall upstairs.

I was so angry and when I rang him he was like do I look bothered I said you f’ing should be. I’ve never been so narked in my life.

I refused to tidy his bedroom. He’s going to be stuck on the sofa for 5 weeks now and the carer won’t need to go upstairs. I only concentrated on the living room, kitchen, dining room and downstairs loo. I told him he can pull his finger out and do it when he’s back on his feet. I have my own issues that need to be done.

Am I wrong in getting angry? Would you have cleaned the bedroom?

Got home and tidied the big shelving unit in the living room. Two bags for recycling, one for rubbish bag and another bag for charity.

It’s 9.24 and I’ve just sat down, so so tired, thankfully tomorrow Ian and I have a day away from this chaos. We’re going to Cambridge to go to the cinema, do some Christmas shopping and the going for dinner. So looking forward to this.

Wow thats quite a lot to spend. But if it is worth it in the long run :) Yay! EEEEK gross. Ewww no. No No NO. Not unless I knew he would be unable to do so later himself. Or if I just liked cleaning, didn't mind doing it, and had the spare time to do so. In your situation. NO! His mess, he can clean it when he is healthier. (to be fair, I don't know what "bedroom was a tip" meant, but not good I'm sure so.....yuck)

Taarna, I do not like to do things in the evenings either (especially not once it gets dark!). I go out early Saturday morning to do my shopping and running around. If I have bills to pay, I do it on my way home from work, only because I can make it be part of my trip home (drive a different direction to go pay the water bill, for instance, then drive home - kind of a semi-circle roundabout way instead of straight on home). Thinking about it - that's actually the only bill I do go pay in person, the rest are auto-pay. Its nice of you to let your brother use the car. I hope he is at least paying for his own gas? What happened to him staying with the friend to get to work and all that? Guess it didn't work out since he's staying with you?

sorry it’s a British term. If we say the room was a tip. It means that it’s a right mess.

I don’t think ever seen a room in such a bad way.

Aaahh yea I figured it would be something like that :) Mine gets messy, but not disgusting. - Its the catchall place for "I don't know where else to put this item" - especially the closet! Ugh. Need to clean up my room again. Remove things, figure out where to put them or get rid of them. I tell you, I am proud of you! Cleaning out all that stuff you are doing! Getting rid of things!! It is sooooo hard to do that!! I seriously need to do it, in my closet, bedroom, kitchen and attic as well! TONS of stuff that is NOT being used, sitting around, taking up space. I so want to do it, cannot get the energy needed.

Morning.

Hope everyone is doing ok.

aw thank you. We’re about half way done. We took yesterday and taking today off. Yesterday we were in Cambridge for the day and today we’ve taken The hard drive from Ian’s old pc so that’s good to go to the household recycling centre together with the old tv stand. Also we’ve put all the cooking books in a bag. I wanted to get rid but as Ian’s the cook he has the last say. So it’s only two bags t charity.

Rang dad this morning. Sean his carer went round at 8 and gave him breakfast and wheeled him into the kitchen so he could have a flannel wash. He will be going back at about 6. He wanted me to phone the doctors to organise a lift to the hospital when he gets his cast off. Told him that all he has to say is what he told me. He also offered me £500 to clean his bed room i so no f’ing chance. He has his sister and cousin round today so we don’t need to go. We will go tomorrow after work instead.

Had a lovely day in Cambridge yesterday. Didnt take many pictures but the ones I did take are on Facebook and Instagram.

Cleaning is also done. Just the food shopping to get done. Then it’s a nice relaxing day. Yay. I think we are doing great for time in moving stuff. We only have all my clothes and what’s already in boxes on the bottom of my wardrobe and then just the underneath of the bed then the little bits are done, it’ll just be cleaning behind the furniture that we will be moving for the install. My work pc will be the last thing to be packed as I still need that unfortunately 😂

I never would have thought you'd have to remove everything from a house to be able to install AC system. I mean I guess it makes sense, it's construction work, but you'd think they would be able to work around some stuff!!!

Wow that was kind of your dad you offer $ to clean it but yea you still have to much on your plate. If he is willing to pay there are always professional cleaners! That's good that other family is willing to pop in and visit/check/help him too! Hopefully he will like that.

Wow a bag of cook books! I'm surprised. Hardly anyone has those anymore it seems as you can find recipes online. Unless they are sentimental ones usually.

I went to bed late...1130 because I got caught up reading and I still woke at 530. YAWN!!! Edit - hahaha I came out to the living room, I had forgotten it was daylights savings weekend - so at least I actually did get 7hrs of sleep, not 6 like I thought. I reset the stove and microwave as those are the only two clocks we have that aren't automatically switched (phones and computers are our other things)

It’s just not ac we are having done it’s central heating so we are having seven radiators installed. All the piping us going under the floor in the spare room which is the junk room. So where the radiators are going is where we are getting rid of stuff.

When we dropped off the bag at the charity shop the woman was like is that all you have this time I was like yup. Little does she know I’ve dropped off ten bags to another charity shop 😂

We have like 30 cookbooks however some his mum gave him before she died. But they’ve never been used. So I would chuck. He gets all his recipes online anyways

We will see him tomorrow when we go to drop off Ian’s pc. But won’t stay for long as we still have packing to go. We do more in the week as both of us are still working from home so we can that in between work. So we can have the weekends as relaxation time.

We had daylight savings last weekend. Always my favourite time of year.

Oh. See I have central heat/air but I don't have radiators. I just have vents in the ceiling. One is intake into the machine(in the attic) that is in the hallway, the others are output in every room. Both heat and AC are run thru the same vents. The, well they aren't pipes, but they are like foil tubes sort of, well those are all in the attic. So is the heater/ac unit, although there is another part, the fan part, that is outside. I have no idea how different systems are over there, I know systems are even different here....

[Edit] And here we are again. Monday morning with the child not wanting to get up and then ending up in the bathroom when it's time to leave!!! Gaaahhhh just wake up a little earlier dude!

Booo Luce. That's too much to put on your shoulders. :(

We don't have central heat or air, we have forced hot water heat.. so just baseboards on the walls.

I love cookbooks, and we actually use them.. but I did get rid of a giant box of them a few weeks ago. Still have another pile to go but, ran out of box :P

I've been cleaning up around here too though, tired of seeing.. stuff.

Also, I want to decorate for Christmas, but first.. the house definitely needs to get cleaned out LOL. So it's a win/win! Yesterday I got rid of this.. fake fireplace thing that's been in the dining room for years and years, but.. it's gross. And smelly. And now it's gone, and there's so much more room! ... I actually put a giant box with the new AC for next year where it was, and another few boxes on top of that, because.. they've all been over there and we've been wlaking around them for months and months. Still not ideal but.. much better!

Now to finish cleaning the rest of that space, so that we can use the woodburner.

Also! Busy week around here. 4H cake decorating tonight, county band tomorrow (two counties really.. but Lily is participating, ofc!), and her regular band concert on Thursday, plus Alex is bringing Iz to 4H. 2nd Playoff football game Friday, then marching band state championships on Saturday.. and staying tf home on Sunday.

And then chorus on Tuesday :P

And VOTING today, ofc! That's important!

I've been in the habit of not decorating for Christmas until after Shanes birthday (Dec 7) for a long time...and its just only been the last few years with him gone that we've started putting up the tree and stuff BEFORE his birthday - and the last couple years on the day after Thanksgiving!! I don't think I've EVER put it up that early til recently. Even if we did put up a few things, with his permission - never the tree til after his birthday. But he's all grown and doesn't live here anymore, so I adjusted when Ryan wanted to do it earlier and Nathan was ok with doing it earlier.... I don't know what me and Nathan will decide to do this year.

Cake decorating sounds fun. I would so enjoy that but hate wasting the cake :P As I've said before, no one to share stuff with so no point in making cakes/cookies whatevers since it always makes so much. Maybe now that people aren't so paranoid due to covid, i might make SOME things and just leave the extras in the staff workroom for people who might want some.

Well, they just have tiny cakes. And last night, they decorated paper plates.. just trying to get the hang of the piping bags.

When I was small, we'd have Thanksgiving dinner, then sit down and circle the ads of what we wanted. We'd get up at 4am, put on the first Christmas CDs of the season, stop for coffee/hot chocolate and donuts, and go shopping.. which was always so much fun! I got to go with them when I was 13. And it was kind of so.. festive? Everyone was in a good mood, helping people find colors and sizes of things they wanted. It was really like a party. While we were gone, my grandpa would bring the tree and decorations out of the shed and he'd set the tree up, then we'd decorate.

Then, ofc, things got earlier and earlier, and I mena.. who wants to shop ON Thanksgiving? And then it just wasn't fun or a party anymore, now it's all of November. it is nice to just stay home, though :P And also, now that I'm a grown ass adult.. I can decorate whenever I want. So.. I still don't know when that'll be. But there's no set date for it, here :P

Finally I have an evening to myself so no running to the charity shops or no drop offs to dad. So time to be curled underneath my blanket and play beta and watch some YouTube. I have so many unwatched videos.

Tomorrow we have another five bags to go to charity. And about another four boxes to be dropped off at dads for storage.

Two large boxes of recycling, however our recycle bin is full until two Tuesday as it only gets collected every two weeks.

We have two bags of general rubbish. However this bin is also full. However due to be emptied next Tuesday. However dads gets emptied Friday. So when we go round Sunday we will drop of any more boxes and drop the rubbish off. He never fills his bin as it’s just him on his own since mum died.

We are almost done with moving things out. We just have the furniture to move. Which we will do towards the end of next week. And my clothes.

We are out with friends Friday evening and Saturday we will be watching the new black panther movie.

Also found out I’m due to get a lap top from work. Currently I have a desk top so it’ll be nice to be able to sit somewhere comfy whilst working. Only bad thing is that it means I have to be in the office three days a week compared to my current situation of one day a week.

Enough of me babbling on. How’s you all doing?

I'm currently trying to figure out why the pharmacy called me (maybe they auto filled my prescriptions or something? I'm needing a refill in 2 days). Also need to go pay my water bill, but trying to get ahold of someone to see why the pharmacy called first, as they are nearby each other and I can do both at the same time. Debating if its worth my time/effort to see if I can talk to a person at the water company as well - the water pressure has been weird the last few months here, the neighbor says it is for them too - but we share the water meter. I haven't talked to a neighbor that DOESNT share my meter. (our situation is a bit odd since we share it). I have the feeling the water company will say the solution is to put in a new meter - which is like 10k. And last time we discussed that (shortly after moving in), the guy who OWNS the place next door tried to argue that HE had the original address (he does, but WE bought our house before he bought that one, put the water in our name, and WE have the original HOUSE, and the original water lines) - meaning HE wanted US to pay for a new meter. And the man has way more $ than we did (or do, even now) as he is a business owner AND has multiple rental properties for investment/income. So I'm afraid if that is the solution he will argue again - although it has been like 12yrs now hahahah :P So maybe possession being 9/10ths of the law HE would have to put in a new meter? I don't know. I only know it'll be a mess either way. But we really need better water pressure. It drops to nothing if we run the sink and the washing machine at the same time for instance. And sometimes (but not always) doing that or running the hose outside makes the water heater make these weird plunging/banging noises and I am worried it will mess up the water heater. Neighbor who shares water meter says he has had same issues for the past couple months, tho they have always had low water pressure even before that. (the neighbors next door rent and pay us 1/2 of the water bill $ every month - that was the easiest solution back then)

And I have english class later tonight also. I finished my "final exam" paper and emailed it to him, asking if he was willing to look over it as he was willing to do so for the paper we wrote earlier/are writing now - its fine if not, but why not ask eh? All we are doing now is working on the final paper and the final exam anyway, no more discussions.

[edit] Everyone disappeared again!! :P Its now Saturday the 12th. Done my shopping, got stuff for an oil change, and Nathan will do it (he said he was willing, and for walmart to do it was $60 :o !!!) Still cost me $30 to get the oil and filter. Sheesh. Need to wash clothes, and FINALLY put them all away. Bad me did not the last two weeks and I've been yanking stuff out of piles and baskets these past two weeks lol eh. Whatever. Turned in my final for English class, professor said it was good, and go ahead and turn it in officially. Now to just finish (with his help, leading the whole class) to finish the MLA paper and that class is done. Bio will put up new stuff Monday - I'm done with it for this week too. Only a few more weeks to go :o "Official" finals are like Dec 14th or something? Not sure.

Water company came out and did a pressure test. Said I might have a bad pressure reducing valve. Now I have to go talk to them again because I have no idea where that is, what that is, who is responsible for fixing it (me or them?)