This weekend was particularly difficult. Friday I wasn't feeling well so stayed home from work. Mid-day, the nurse at Tacie's school called saying she was sick too so I went and got her. We watched chick-flicks together all afternoon. My stomach hurt but I think Tacie was just exhausted from staying up too late the night before finishing her Physics project.
Friday evening, Talia performed at the nearby middle school with her Recorder Ensemble. They have 59 5th graders in the Ensemble and they sounded lovely. They played 4 or 5 Christmas selections. There were other groups singing, dancing, and playing but this was definitely the largest. They also said we got the "most enthusiastic audience" award.
Saturday, Tacie got up early to get to school for "Shop with a Mustang". She and her classmates took some underprivileged children Christmas shopping at a nearby shopping center. Talia and I stayed home to try and straighten up the house a bit. I told them no Christmas decorations until things were a bit more tidy.
After I picked up Tacie, I went over to my mother's house to help her with moving. I was pretty appalled at how little was packed. Mom's been so very concerned about Lynne's move, helping by running errands and watching the baby, she was only about half packed. Worse, things leftover from the garage sale had migrated back into the general chaos. I had a hard time telling what was to go and what was not. Bruce and Ken arrived at about the same time as I did ready to start moving furniture. The guys were able to take one load Saturday. I stayed until 9:30 helping pack more to be ready for Sunday.
Mom must have spent most of the night packing because things looked much better Sunday. Bruce, Ken, Talia, Riley, and I all arrived at about 10:30. The guys took over 2 more loads while I was there to help but Talia and I left at around 2:30 for our Girl Scout meeting. Talia and Riley (and later Rowen) had fun playing together. Mom and I packed like crazy. Bruce, and Ken loaded and unloaded. By the time I left, all the boxes that were packed and all the furniture were on the truck.
There is still a lot of stuff in the basement that needs to be sorted through. When I helped with cleaning it out this fall, we just put all the boxes with papers in one huge pile. Also, all the books that are left in the basement need to be taken to the library or someplace.
Upstairs, we have some repair work before we get new tenants. We need to paint all the rooms and repair and paint a couple of ceilings. We'll probably put a new coat of polyurethane on the floors. Outside, the yard needs some attention. We'll put a "For Rent" sign up this week but I'm hoping to have everything ready by January 1.
In other news, Talia and I went to our Girl Scout meeting. The girls are working on their Bronze Award so are doing work on 2 badges that have to do with animals and pets. This was our last meeting of the year!
I volunteered again this year to organize the luncheon for the teachers at Tacie's high school, hosted by the parents. I've created a Google spreadsheet online to track who is bringing what and have about 30 volunteers so far. The luncheon is on the 18th. This spreadsheet has worked very well. Everyone can see what everyone else is bringing and update their dish. I can easily send an email to all of the volunteers. I really really like this kind of sharable document and use them frequently at home and at work. It is all kept online so I can access them from any computer and can share them with whomever I choose or keep them private.
