So long, 2016!

I'm really ready for this year to be over.  You?

Christmas dinner was lovely.  My back is ouchy today, though.

Sue, sounds like things went well with your inlaws, too, which is great news!

Busy busy busy busy....

I've got several lists to get through this week.

You?

Here I Am, Remembering to Do Something

Last week, I forgot to post a Whining post for the week, and kathy a graciously stepped in. Then I forgot to do a similar thing on Saturday, and someone else graciously stepped in. What is wrong with me?!? So I'm doing this first thing this morning, and have already scheduled my post for Saturday's obligation. Let's see what else I can forget to take care of today.

What is slipping between the cracks at your house?

It's a new week, and we're gonna have a wedding!

No wedding this week, but cross everything because my son and I are going to make a contract for the wedding venue today!!!  The wedding will be in June, so whew, lots of time to work out all those pesky details. And -- I'm bonding with the rental person for my city's lovely facility, who has already answered most of the questions we came up with.

Meanwhile, getting prepped for an annual fundraiser for a do-good organization on Saturday.  Yay!  

We'll start the holiday decorating after that.  It still seems too soon!  (I know, but we get the tree -- a real one -- about 2 weeks before Christmas, and that's when all the decorating happens.)  And when I start freaking out about how much cleaning there is to do.

How's by you?

Busy Lead-Up To Holidays Whining

Even though we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in November, we Canadians use your holidays as a measure as much you do. Our stores had Black Friday sales (and we all complained "Why must we have these extra sales? We already have Boxing Day," but we also all shopped in those sales). (Speaking of which: I have a Cyber Monday tea order that must be finalized today.) We put up our outdoor lights yesterday, because it's starting to feel like the lead-up to Christmas now, since the Americans have had their Thanksgiving.

And I'm a flurry of activity! As soon as I hit "post" on this, I need to do an hour of freelance work, and then go and get E from preschool again, and then we need to clean the living room and the kitchen, and then we're hauling in the Christmas tree from the garage. And THEN we're moving around the living room and decorating the tree until E goes to bed, at which point I do another hour of freelance research. (I'm working on a family history project for a friend, and she'd like some progress to show her family when she goes home for Christmas.)

If I'm this busy, I can't imagine how our clergical pixies are doing, with Advent beginning this week. (Oh dangit, I have to put interesting things in E's DIY Advent calendar. And make reservations for two birthday parties. And book a birthday cake from the ice cream store! And we have friends staying here on the only non-birthday, non-holiday weekend. Wheeee!)

Happy Thanksgiving Whines, US pixies!

It's Thanksgiving this week in US pixie world. In honour of the day, feel free to share recipes and enjoy hearty debate about important matters such as "Cranberries: Whole or Jelly?"

How is your week shaping up?

Kittens, rainbows, and a super-moon.

Things are still bad after last week.  Part of me keeps fretting about the train wreck; the other part is like, "Look!  A baby cow!  It's so cute!"

We saw a lot of cows and countryside on the fairly long drive to visit my sister in law yesterday.  Our hills are greening up again after the rain last month.  The leaves in the vineyards (the ones that are left now) are yellow, with bright green grass between the rows.  The garden at SIL's facility is so artfully arranged, and looks lovely in all seasons.

My SIL has had a pretty significant decline recently.  She can no longer walk unassisted; she's ready to topple at any moment.  I could make out basically one word; her speech is very garbled.  On the up side, she isn't agitated (as she has been often), is not trying to walk by herself, and does not seem to be in any pain.  Nothing really unexpected; it is just very sad and sobering.  She is younger than us.

 It's my sweetie's birthday this week.  We're taking the kids and future in-laws out to celebrate.  He says he doesn't want anything else, and probably I should have devoted some thought to this before, but I'll keep my eyes open for some this and that he'd like.

And at your place?

Election Week Whining

You know what to do, pixies.

Canadian pixies, please bear with the U.S. pixies this week. We can't think about anything else.

Someone will be by with your daily dose of cute, fuzzy baby animals.

I'm trying my best to be extra gentle with myself and everyone I meet this week. We're all stressed out.

Anything besides the election in whining news? Do tell.

Spoooooky Sickbed Edition

I saw that no one had signed up for this week, and figured that I can peek in and host here and there this week, since I'll be home more than usual. The wee Microbe Incubator (tm Gary at the end of last week's comments) is laying on the couch, watching Super Why, and waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. She's determined to do a bit of trick-or-treating tonight, but it's going to be an abbreviated version: we'll get her into whatever of her costume is already finished, and carry her to go and meet the immediate neighbours.

So, it's all whines and Halloween candy (for me) around here. How about all of you?

I forgot!

Welcome, Pixies, to another week at the Whiner's Ball!

I promised to post, and forgot until now; which doesn't bode so well for my personal organization this week, but the week's still young, right?

There are several things on the agenda, including linguine and tasty meatballs for dinner, cleaning stuff up, trying to gather things to go donate already.

What's cooking at your house?

Back to normal life Edition

Hi, whining pixies! I have returned from the women's retreat, somehow both rested and exhausted, energized and absolutely wiped. So: standard post-retreat feelings. I had a lovely weekend, being a visitor at a retreat for a denomination that's very much not my own (my friend invited me, because our friend -- who is from yet another denominational background -- was the speaker). I ended up knowing more people there than I expected, and came home with a little stack of books and way too many notes about stuff to process.

And now I'm home. Upon my return, E informed me that while I missed her, that she was having too much fun to miss me. (I'm so glad she had a good weekend with Mr. Q). But then she was clingy to me this morning, and tried to argue that she should stay home from preschool to be with me. It took some hyping up of preschool to get her out the door today (and I ended up carrying her half the way there, because her legs allegedly didn't work), but she got there, and I finally have some time entirely to myself. I was going to try to get work done during this window of time, but I have a feeling that this will be my only chance to rest and recover today, because I imagine that the kiddo will be all over me when she gets home. And so, right now (and for the next 12 minutes, until I need to be out the door), I will do nothing but put my feet up and drink tea.

How's it going where you are?

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!

Hope that our Canadian Pixies and their families enjoy a lovely Thanksgiving!

Political update:  I found it quite surprising, and imagine you did as well, when Canada was described in yesterday's debate as a "disaster."   Just one little completely bizarre point, among so many.  My horror-o-meter soared past eleventy, and I'm scared it might get broken before all this is over.

Weather report:  We're gonna get rain this week!  The most in 6 months!  The southern part of my state seems to be permanently set to "broil," but this is at least a start.

Pet report:  With cooling temps, we have returned to a 2 cat sleeping pattern.  One has dibs on my head, and the other on my feet.  The dog is having an exciting day barking at the roofers working next door.

Gourmet corner:  My beloved cooked teriyaki salmon, rice, and spicy green beans last night, and also started a crock-pot of beef burgundy for tonight.  Going to be hard to top that, later in the week.  ;)

What's the news where you live?

Foggy-Headed Whining

I went for 90 days migraine-free (exact number thanks to my migraine tracker app), but then the triple-whammy of minor back injury, hormones, and cold symptoms were too much for my body to handle, and I was out of commission for a few days. I'm starting to come back out of the fog (and managed to use my SAD lamp this morning without triggering another migraine), but I still feel a bit like a limp dishrag. Seriously: whoever asked Sue if she ever tried to manage migraines with mindfulness can go and sit on a tack.

But! Mr. Q managed to repair our crumbled front steps this weekend, and E is back at preschool this morning, and there are garden tomatoes dehydrating in the oven. And I'm coming out of the fog again. Here hoping for another 90-day break from the pain.

Hello, new week!

W:  This is going to be another day when we wish there was air conditioning.  Last night, it was still 80F in the house at midnight, with all fans running!  Supposed to be hotter today.  AW:  My beloved nighttime fog will return tomorrow.

W:  Unfortunately, it is also another day when the UPS guy says he's coming.  I'm really going to be cranky-pants if he stands me up again.  Not sure why they didn't attempt delivery on Saturday, when my beloved could have sat here waiting.

AW:  There's enough leftover BBQ from last night that we need not worry about cooking!

What's new at your place?

Staring Blankly at the Wall Edition

It's Monday; Li'l E is at preschool, and I am at home. It was a rocky morning, getting her ready (worsened by the headache she has, after she fell off the potty last night, and hit her head on a wooden stool: no signs of concussion so far, but her head is sore, and she's a bit cranky). She was already in a mood yesterday, and cried about: wanting to take home an electric billboard, and put it in our living room in the place of our TV; not wanting to take off her outside shoes when she was inside; the fact that the jewel sticker that she'd just put on her stuffed kitty's nose would someday fall off; that she was too tired to eat pizza (no kidding, kid). But she was cheerful when I got her to school, and now that I've hauled a thousand pounds of playdough with us on our walk to school (I did it, you guys! I made all the playdough for the preschoolers!), I'm going to spend this precious hour and a half sitting very quietly, with my feet at, staring at the wall. (Okay, I'm also making banana bread for future preschool snacks, but it's in the oven now, and I definitely won't do any more work while E is away.)

How are you all doing?

I Am Not in Paris Whining

W: Three "grown up" parties over the weekend have left me pretty tired. (The Baboos have named them "grown up" parties aka "boring."

AW: The final of the three was for my people rather than Mr. E's, so I enjoyed it very much. But still, introvert overload.

AW: A tiny nap this morning

W: I do not seem to be on a wonderful and fulfilling trip right now. :)

What are your whines, pixies?

Labor day; back to school; adventures all around!

What's happening at your place?

We're taking off on Thursday.  Starting to get excited!  Junior cat must be picking up on the vibes, because she's been getting into all kinds of trouble, and eating roughly her body weight in kibble every day.

The Bus, The Bus, I Love the Bus!

AW: The Baboos still think it's fun to ride the bus. I (a person who rode the bus throughout junior high and into high school), know that it will not always be fun. So I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

AW: It saves me so much time sitting in the car line. Hooray, bus!

W: There was still lots of whining and prodding and nagging this morning, in order to make it to the bus stop on time.

How are things going in your world, pixies?

New Week!

As summer winds down, guess things have been fairly busy all around.

Took a break after the last albatross, and have decided what to do next.  Although breaks are not very usual for me, I really needed this one.  Daughter is off to her new job today.

Hope everyone's heads are healing from the recent spate of bonks!  Miranda, fingers crossed about the visit from your dad.  Sue, hope you have been enjoying your vacation.

What's new?

Calm Before the Storm Edition

I'm utterly alone, but not for long: Mr. Q and Li'l E are heading back from the family camping trip today. (I haven't heard a word from them in forty-eight hours! This is the longest I've gone without any contact with my kiddo! I appreciate the break, but I'm getting a little separation anxiety here.) It's also the (fairly busy) calm before the storm around here, in that we're into the second-last week before our Busiest School Year Ever begins!

And so I'm going to enjoy the quiet while I can. (I'm also going to volunteer for hosting here as much as possible before the frantic busy schedule begins! And I suspect that it's for the best for me to volunteer, with Sue on vacation, Kathy approaching medical stuff, Miranda recovering, esperanza dealing with the baboos...)

How are things in your neck of the woods?

Smithsonian week! Come celebrate all the weird and lovely things!

This is actually true:  After years of congressional haggling over what to do with money left to the United States -- and investments went bad, on the part of the government -- on August 10, 1846, the (otherwise undistinguished) President Polk signed legislation creating the Smithsonian Institution.  Well, that worked out, finally, and so might our current problems.

What's new?

So. Many. Apples. Edition

Here is your Queen of West Procrastination, reporting to you from Apple Processing Central. We had the good fortune to acquire ALL the apples off of my in-laws' tree last week, and it has been taking up a lot of our time now. We have a crate of them stored in the cold storage room, bags and bags of frozen apples, and right now I'm canning a quick batch of crab apple butter (from the crab apples that we ALSO acquired last week) before we go out for supper. Every visitor to our home has been sent home with a complimentary bucket of apples. And still: so. many. left!

Anyone want some apple butter?

Dog Days of Summer Edition

What does that mean, actually? I know it refers to the hottest days of the summer, but what does that have to do with dogs?

Well, National Geographic comes to my rescue again. Here's what they have to say:

"It turns out, the dog days refer to the dog star, Sirius, and its position in the heavens. To the Greeks and Romans, the “dog days” occurred around the day when Sirius appeared to rise just before the sun, in late July. They referred to these days as the hottest time of the year, a period that could bring fever, or even catastrophe."

So there you have it. We're in the dog days - keep those whines coming.

Step away from the news edition

I guess we're about halfway through summer, and maybe it's time for me to go find some things to do -- in service of my project for the week, avoiding the news.

The last couple weeks have been so awful, in so many ways.  I do not have high hopes for this week, either. 

Albatross-related activities have kept me chained to the desk for so long that I hardly remember what it's like to just go someplace for the view, go to see a movie, go run those errands that have been on perpetual hold.

What's on your agenda?

Back to "Normal" Whining

I've decided we're finished moving in. Boxes are unpacked; cars are in the garage; things have mostly found a place. And, most importantly: I'm sick of it.

So let's enjoy (or make it through in some form or fashion) the rest of the summer.

Pixies, what are your whines? Anything going on for fun?

Any big plans for the 4th?

Maybe our local fair; not sure.  They have music, rides, craft sales, lots of food, giant flags around the field, a whole street for visual artists, etc.

Sum, sum, sum, Summertime!

Big and small, whines and anti's.  What's up with you?

Long Past Time for Me To Take A Turn Edition

We're in that tiny lull where classes are done and the frenzy of grad season hasn't quite begun, and so I thought I'd better host while I have the time! Hugs to all the pixies that had a hard day yesterday, and to the esperanza family as they transition to their new life in a new city.

How are all of you?

Wednesday Whining: I want to stop having vigils to attend edition

At tonight's vigil, I'm taking names and asking for people to DO something tomorrow. Write a letter to their congressional representative, write a letter to the editor, talk to their neighbors. No more hate. No more AR-15s available to any Tom, Dick, or Harry who wants one, no matter if they have a violent history. No more.

I'm just so tired of standing with a candle and having no follow-up, no follow-through. Enough.

zoom zoom june

I honestly have no idea how the time is flying so fast this year, but here we are in June again.  The next week looks to be full of albatross polishing, for me.  Then?  I don't know.  Maybe I'll start making inroads on the Things Requiring Sorting around here.

Our evening fog has returned, so we are not roasting, as in other areas.

What's the news where you live?

Happy Memorial Day, and may the house elf of choice show up

Turning the corner on a new week, and in the U.S., this is also a holiday.

Know one Pixie family can use a small platoon of moving fairies.  Suspect we could all benefit from some helping hands, one way or another.  (The cats are being totally unhelpful with the polishing up of the albatross...)

What's the news in your neighborhood?

Wednesday Whining: Get Me to the School on Time Edition

Remember the email from Muffin Man's school last week? Today's the day we go in to talk with three of his teachers. Frankly, I think a disrespectful tone is something THEY could deal with without needing any attention from his parents, but let's face it, he comes by his disrespectful tone naturally.

My thoughts today are entirely with PK as she navigates her mother's declining health in the midst of all her other stress. Fireplacing cancer.

Spring is Definitely Not in the Air

Greetings Pixies!

Well, up here in Middle Earth Canada, it is not Spring. On my way to drop Tilty Kitty off at the vet for her ear scope this morning, I saw two women walking in our neighbourhood wearing parkas and toques. *sigh*

What's happening in your world today?

Keep Calm and Carry On

Sending much love to all the Pixies facing stuff right now.  Last week's edition featured the most comments ever, so this week is starting early.

AW:  This doesn't roll around so often as one would like, but a nice dinner out with friends is really wonderful.

W:  Lingering albatross.  The one I meant to finish drafting this past week.  AW:  Didn't cancel the dinner out.

What's happening in your life? 

(House) Closing Whine Week

W: I am ready to get this over and done with. Stressy dreams about having to move out here and put our stuff in storage, etc.

AW: Scheduled for Friday.

W: I comprehend about a quarter of the information that is presented to me re: loans, title, escrow, closing costs, etc.

AW: Scheduled for Friday.

On the rest of the week's agenda: appointment with principal at the new school, Mini's field trip, crossing things off my list(s)

Days of Whine and Roses

Good morning pixies!

Sadly, there are no roses here in Middle Earth Canada - snow flurries today. Sigh.

Our vertigo kitten is still a bit spinny, but so much better than she was on the weekend, so we're thankful for that.

What's new in your world today?

This 'n that

Tax season is over! 

Pollen season and the explosion of all life forms is here.  My husband took me out to a tree in our yard that is literally buzzing with these wasp things, which he claims aren't the stinging kind, but instead a beneficial pest that eats aphids or something.  I still decided that indoors is a better location than under the buzzy tree.

We managed to get flea stuff on one of the cats, without serious damage.  The other, alas, is a lost cause. 

Must report on albatross progress this week; supposed to finish all first drafts by end of the month.  

What's new with you?

Sunshine!

We had a rather soggy weekend -- which, after these years of drought, remains ever so exciting.  But the sun looks to be returning today, and that is a lot more cheerful!

Need to pick up the pace on the rest of this current albatross.  Have been suffering, alas, from a bad attitude.   Also, this albatross hates me.

My shy old lady cat has returned to sleeping by my feet!  She is too afraid to let human hands touch her, but feet are apparently safe.  My feet, anyway -- she does not confer this honor on just anybody. 

What is happening out your way?

House Hunting Whining

Oh my, Pixies. This house hunting thing is not as fun as it looks on tv.

Without boring you with so many details that even Mr. E can't keep up, several of our good possibilities are under contract already. So we're going to look at some more today, this time with check book in hand. The market here is moving quickly and is more than a little bit nuts.

In other news, we will have Albatross #2 liftoff on Saturday, which is very exciting and a giant relief.

How are things going in your world?

House Full of Bark Whining

I'm starting this thread early, because I don't know what condition I'll be in, tomorrow morning. I'd better get this week started while I'm still coherent.

The current condition of the Q household:
Mr. Q: was completely incapacitated on Friday (he almost fainted twice!), but has rallied completely, as he tends to do.
Li'l E: succumbed to The Bark last night, and hardly slept all night. Screamed a lot today. (She also wanted nothing to do with me, and would cry when I entered the room, which was a fun new feature.)
Me: Still on the edge. I've been running on adrenaline (and washing so much laundry), and I'm keeping myself close to the BRAT diet, because this very well could be me by morning. Very weak and exhausted.

We've hit the "diminishing standards for cleanups" stage, wherein we sometimes don't change those jammies, because it isn't TOO bad, and she's already asleep.

So. The kid fell asleep at 4pm. Either she's down until morning, or it's going to be another sleepless night. Bedtime for Mr. Q and me will be 7pm.

How's it going in your household? How did the Pastoral Pixies (and everyone else who celebrates) survive the Easter weekend? Is anyone back at work on Monday?

Crunch Time Whining

It's the biggest week of the year for Mr. E, so we won't be planning on seeing him much.

In Mini news, she finally called my bluff and had to be taken to the office to get her tardy slip this morning. That threat had worked all year until now. She was not upset that she was late; she was upset because she and Sweet "always" go in to school together. Well, if you want to do that, then you'll need to get ready on time.

In Sweet news, let us all hope that being back in the school routine will help her sleep better and act better.

And in Mama news, let us not think forward to summer and the lack of school routine, with added moving stress for a bonus. Let's just think about something more pleasant, shall we?

An Early Start to a Whiny Week

Greetings Pixies!

I thought I would start us off early this week. I've got a metric butt load of errands to run tomorrow, so I won't be around much during the day, but will check back in around supper time. The errand part of the day has me feeling whiny already. *sigh*

So whine away, friends!

March Madness (weather edition)

We're getting another installment of Weather, brought to you by El Nino!  So far this month, we've gotten 3.25 inches, punctuated by sunshine and the odd burst of thunder.  The leak over the kitchen floor is still manageable.  All the remaining plum blossoms went down a couple days ago, sitting prettily in puddles.  The hills are awash in lush greens; gardens are bursting with blooms.   Our back yard provides drainage for the hill behind, so there is a small ongoing flow.  The dog wishes you to know that she dislikes puddles and mud.

I'm attempting a return to more work normalcy.  Must get moving on organizing tax stuff.

What's new with you?

Wednesday Whining - Super Tuesday Edition

Election Day hereabouts tomorrow. Today there's a huge rally I'm not going to (have car-line duty for Muffin Man's after-rehearsal pick-up), and in any case, I'm gonna sit out huge political rallies this year unless I get to meet the candidate. I'm getting too curmudgeonly to be one of thousands pressed too tightly together for too long.

I am, however, going to activist rallies, and we've got a big one on Wednesday at the Supreme Court. I'm putting a bus together, and it's looking like it's going to be very successful!!

What's on your agenda this week?

Night Owls & Early Birds & Their Mamas All Whining

Yep. Mini is a certified Night Owl, complete with "I don't want to get up. I'm tired. I'm going back to sleep."

And Sweet is a certified Early Bird. At least she has good sleep habits.

If you're doing the math, all of that means that Mama is caught staying up too late and getting up too early.

How are the Pixies?

Valentine's Day:

Discuss.  We never have done anything fancy.  I don't get it when I hear jewelry commercials -- why would that be important to a celebration of love?  Flowers, I'll accept, though, because they make me happy.

True story:  35 years ago I was busy on Valentine's day, but saw my new boyfriend [current beloved] the next day.  And he brought two little bouquets of flowers he had picked, "one for today and one for yesterday."  Cute, no?

This week:  albatross.  Hoping to make progress in the next 10 days.

Old business:  Oh, Esperanza.  Not the plague!

What's new?

Light at the End of the Tunnel Whining

Yes, Pixies, there is light at the end of my tunnel: great progress on the Lice Incident of 2016, a week with not much on the calendar, delightful weather over the weekend, and--miracle of miracles--Baboos who decided to color with their extra (!) time this morning, rather than begging me for 5 minutes of screen time.

However. Next week is going to be a doozy. Just warning you (and me) now.

How are things shaping up for you?

The Post-Snowmageddon World!

Let's just start out with a few excellent visuals from last week, beginning with Sue's glorious kittehs!

 Elf!

Sprite!

Elf's amazing ninja tail!

And now, Esperanza's fabulous giraffe designs for Mini Baboo's party!

 THE pinata!

And also, the cake.

And now, for the snow, from Liz.

 Snow outside.

Snow from the inside out, 

which looks EXACTLY like a famous painting of a dancer.

And the award for a fabulous neighbor, 

who used his snowblower on sidewalks and driveways up and down the street, 

for the betterment of mankind.

This is a pretty happy start to the week!  What's new out your way?

Creativity Level: Zero

Nothing clever to see here. What are your whines?

W/AW?? Albatross #2 phone call this afternoon. This is were hopefully we deal with Complication Man's actions in a wise way. I will be glad to get past the phone call.

W/AW?: Sweet feels better. Maybe? Or she's trying to tell me what I want to hear, so she doesn't have to go to the doctor. It's hard to keep up with her.

How about you?

January made me shiver....

(Stolen line from American Pie, which actually features February.)  But it's been pretty cold, no?

This week, I'm going to make progress on the remaining albatross, I swear.  My goal is to finish the last 2 pieces of this section in the next week.  Go team go!  [The rest of the team being feline, not expecting a lot of help...]

We have temporarily won the War on Ants, at least until the next rainstorm chugs through.

Several other little to-do projects lined up, to keep the momentum going on the new year's aspiration of clearing some of the clutter around here.

What's going on at your place?

Winter Whining

Good morning pixies!

We finally have winter in our part of the world. There is a light snow this morning, making my little corner of the world look quite beautiful.

What's new in your world?