Morning Everyone! It is FriYay!

Kmom- I am proud of you. You are well informed and have a solid relationship with your doctors. You have a plan and are also CapD on losing weight as a natural method to help control your AFib. Well done, Girlie!

Jaz- Hahahaha a huge black SNACK!! That could be taken in so many ways...!

You know, I have definitely noticed that you can really tell the quality of a cheeseburger (or any burger) much more by not eating the bun. I seldom order them even though it is an easy LC choice because often they are very MEH.

RE: cleaning for the cleaning crew. I should have been more clear. He did not PICK UP his room for the cleaning crew. Floors and surfaces should be clear so that they can get in there and dust and vacuum and such. He still has a duffle bag on his floor with stuff in it from before Labor Day, plus other general crap. It isn't their job to deal with that, IMO. So yeah, he will be doing the dusting, vacuuming, change his bedsheets etc that they would have done if he had followed my instructions. This rarely happens though so not a huge biggie, just a natural consequence.

RE: Zoos: IMO they are much better but maybe it depends on the area. Very few animals in cages anymore. I mean, obviously they are still contained but it much more open, large, habitat style environments over cages. I do know what you mean though. I never took my kids to a circus because I didn't agree with that philosophically. I do sort of love Zoos though. We have two good ones- the National Zoo in DC and the large Baltimore Zoo as well.

YAY FOR BABY AVA!!! That is really great news. Super news! So I am assuming no day care for her until Spring also? Or maybe just in home day care? And how is your DD supposed to run errands etc or go out to eat as a family etc when the baby has to stay home? That will definitely require some planning. Hopefully they can establish a couple of older babysitters who can come and stay with Ava to free them up a little.

Sorry about your Kiddo, Trig! What did she do to her ankle?
RE: Fire Ants. Growing up in Houston I am very familiar with those! I remember one time hanging out outside with friends and one suddenly starts screaming her head off BIG TIME. Turns out she was sitting in the grass ON AN ANT HILL and they swarmed all up in her shorts. It was awful. I stomped and ran on many a hill in my youth!

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So shrimp night migrated to tonight- by the time DS15 finished his piano lesson and we navigated traffic is was already close to 6:30 and I just did not feel like starting at that point. I am going to have to rethink the schedule for the two lesson evenings- one is at 5 for half an hour and one is at 5:30 for half an hour. Just sort of a crummy time. Those nights will need to be either leftovers or an instant pot meal or something. But anyway, last night we went to Pie Five, which is a create your own personal pizza place. I ordered mine up with lots of cheese and meats, plus mushrooms, and ate the toppings off of three slices, which is probably 1.5 slices of a regular size pizza. I have toppings from three slices left for today, along with the tops of two slices of DS15's crab dip pizza.
Shrimp Fest will be tonight!

The FIM meeting (CASA) was sort of a waste of time last night. Neither parent was there- Dad was a no-show so his lawyer didn't bother to show either, Mom is in treatment but did attend over the phone. She sounded good, actually. Her lawyer was there. Clearly there will be no agreement on a permanency plan so at the court date in October it will be a contested hearing.

Open day today, which is nice. This has been a busy week. I'm going to go to Costco and return the mixer I had bought- it is the larger KitchenAid one (DD22 took my original KA) but I don't like this model at all. I prefer the one where the mixer head tips back. Cheaper too, anyway.

Down from last week so yay for that. Still a ways to go but a little at a time.