[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

It is a beautiful day here in the heartland. I am a happy camper this day. We went for a nice long drive out and about in the country this day and on the way home we passed by the Animal Shelter. I asked Will to go back and see if they had any Manx kittens and was very surprised when he did. His mantra has been, "we don't need a cat." Anyway they had lots and lots of kittens but no Manx. When we got home I started looking on the web and found lots of them but I was looking for one we could get to in one days drive there and back. Will was also looking and located a real cute one with an inch of a tail and 6 toes so he is called a Polydactul Manx. I wanted one with a bit of a tail for his ease in using the sand box. Ones with no tail at all have a bit of trouble in that department. Manx back legs are a bit longer than their front ones which gives them a rake job look. (Rake job is a car term ~ slant from back to front.) Anyway he is a cutie. Will said that he was going to get me one for my birthday but couldn't surprise me now. Since this one will be delivered on the 3rd of October it will give us a chance to get the food and butt hutt set up. And some toys, of course. I am thinking of naming him Turn Too. The Navy term is Turn To but we had a Turn About and this will be A Turn Too. I'm getting a kitty. I sent you Magnolias a couple pictures of him.

JEAN I like green shirts. In fact the one I have on now is a mint green one. That duck is a hoot being a DJ using the lily pads as records with the frogs sitting on them. It is about time new commercials were made.

DONNA FAYE back. Sounds like you had a great time and thanks for the pictures. Now is the time to knuckle down and buckle down for your cruise. Sorry about your toe. I have never had a corn but have known of folks that suffered with them. Not a fun thing to have for sure. Aren't crock pots wonderful. I am sure thankful for the two of mine.

Have a wonderful afternoon/evening Magnolias. Type at y'all later.

[Jean]

Maggie -- The Sioux City tv weatherman visits the animal shelter and introduces pets that are adoptable. I would have a hard time visiting one let alone working there. I'm glad you have found a kitten and hope all will adjust in due time. I imagine Beanie will wonder "what in the world" has happened to my house! I like green also, and have a few green pieces of clothing. The high school colors are green and white so I have quite a few school shirts and sweatshirts from over the years. Bob finally lit the fireplace so it is toasty warm upstairs . . . that's where the heat goes because the idiot who built the house put the fireplace right in line with the stairway. The thermostat is on the opposite wall so the furnace won't run if the fireplace is going. DUMB! I have my SOS box ready to go and am off to look for a few more small items to add to it. See you all tomorrow!

[gma22]

Good morning to you all. Fortune had one of his up and down nights so I didn't get a lot of sleep past three. He is now sleeping! GRRRR!

We have everything laundered and all upstairs so it is put away day today and I am going to clean out the fridge and wash it down and such as it has become icky. I try and keep it clean, but the man in my house tends to spill and not clean up when he does.

Fortune goes to the groomer tomorrow, Jack has a dr appt with his ortho dr and has to call the windshield glass company this morning to make an appt to have our windshield replaced. We were coming home on Saturday and got zapped big time by a rock. We already had two that we had repaired, but she said we could have the windshield replaced for no cost to us as it is filed on our insurance so we are going to have to do that with this one. It is bad.

I have a dr appt a week from today for my yearly meds, to get a physical, to talk to her about my female stuff and get a referral to my gyn so we can get this solved. Since I had that real bad bout right before Jack's surgery, I have had nothing, no problems at all so I continue to think it is hormones. Anyway, I have a laundry list of stuff to talk to her about since she will be a new physician to me. I also have to get another mammogram, but it has to be scheduled for in the morning with us being down to one car now.

Jean: Your furnace issue sounds like our smoke detector. The morons put it right next to the stove so it goes off constantly. We had to take the battery out of it and we didn't want to do it, but it is of no use if it is going off all the time when it shouldn't. It has turned cooler here, but not cold. We get into the upper 50's now at night but still get into the upper 70's even low 80's during the day. We are supposed to have sunny skies for at least 10 days, which will be nice considering we spent most of our vacation in the rain. The night of the murder mystery dinner (which was a big disappointment to my way of thinking) we came out and it was raining but not bad. We got halfway across the parking lot in no man's land and the skies opened up and soaked us big time. Good thing we were going right back to the hotel because my hair was plastered to my head and I was freezing.

Maggie: Hope you find a kitty that makes you happy. I am done with pets. Fortune is almost 12 now and it is going to be rough when he dies for me. I have gone through three pets dying and I can't do it anymore so no more pets when Fortune goes. I saw some adorable Jack Russells on the way home from Branson they were giving away but though I wanted to stop and look I never said anything to Jack. Fortune and Marty tangled themselves in Kelly's legs and tripped her going down the stairs the first of last week and made her fall down the stairs so I think keeping it to one pet is enough for me.

Well gals, I have tons to do today and want to get things accomplished so I should go. Have a great start to your week. Faye

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun is shining but it's a cool breezy 62 degrees outside. I'm seriously thinking about getting some long janes (johns) for winter! I've been to church and managed to balance after recounting 7 envelopes of change! There is a man whose father was a minister; every time he buys something, he puts 10% in an envelope and brings it to the church. He doesn't bring it into the office, he leaves it on the register just inside the outside door or else on the bench outside. It's never an even amount either. I need to go buy an anniversary card and pick up bread and milk. Bob is at the farm so have no idea when I will see him -- supper will be simple since we ate leftovers for lunch.

"Gma" -- You should take a nap when Fortune does, just like having a new baby! You are a smart lady to make a list of questions and concerns for you new doctor. I hope you like her. You mentioned getting rained on coming out of the mystery dinner . . . Bob and Jason took out the dock and closed the cabin on Friday. One has to be in the water and that was Bob because the waders aren't big enough for Jason. The dock comes out in sections starting at the far end. I'm still not just sure how it happened but Bob was laying down and unscrewing bolts (?) when a cracked board broke and dumped him in the lake. He said the main problem was getting his feet underneath him before the waders filled up with water and held him upside down. Jason was ready to jump in but Bob managed to get himself upright. I'm so glad he wasn't trying to do the job alone or he could have been in trouble. A neighbor was watching and even came over to help. Hope you get all of your chores done and you can relax this afternoon!

I'm off to make my list and stop by the gift shop on my way home so I can make that deposit. I could do it every two weeks and may start doing that until the Christmas items come out; there will be more sales and money to work with then. Hope you all have a nice "rest of the day" and enjoy!

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

What a surprise we got last evening at church. Our dear friends from Texas were there. They came for a surprise visit and we have been yacking ever since. Well except for sleeping last night. Jimmy is a fireman and Susan is the head nurse at a hospital there and had a few days off and chose to come here. She does some quilting and likes the little quilt shop we have in this little berg. When Will went to the radio station to record a commercial today our friend that works there liked listening to Jimmy's voice so much he had him record some things. Those little blurbs that radio folks like to plug in on occasion. Jimmy sounds like a true Texan. The dogs loved our visitors and vice versa. They had to leave after lunch and it is sure quiet around here now. What a nice surprise. We love having company. Y'all come when you can.

JEAN It is good feeling to get the money counted properly isn't it. So now I know the color of your kitty. Somehow I always picutred it in my mind as a dark tiger striped one. I think to train mine to play fetch I will have to bring it into my office and work with it with the door closed so the dogs don't interfere. It may have to stay in here with me for awhile anyway. It will be interesting. The talking heads are saying we are going to have a long cold winter. For every day that was over 100 we are going to be below zero. So if that old addage is true we are fixin' to have a long cold winter.

DONNA FAYE Turn About's Fur Play was going to be our last cat but times have changed and we are getting Turn Too. About 7 years have passed since Turn was passed on and now we have re-thought the matter and are getting another Manx. Do you wash your fridge down with a backing soda and water combo? I use that and it sure makes it come out nice and sparkling. I think we have free glass on our policy also. We also have towing and gas and licked out ~ that sort of thing. Sounds like you are taking yourself in to get a total body work up. I hope it all works out for you. I only go to my doc once a year and if I have any issues to discuss I make a list and hand it to her. So far all I have needed is my perscriptions refilled. Can you install another smoke detector elsewhere since you made the lousy placed one inoperable. They have the stick up ones that you don't have to wire in but work well.

Have a lovely after noon Magnolias. Type at y'all later.

[Jean]

Maggie -- I'm glad you enjoyed your visit with your Texas friends. That was a nice surprise for you! Ernie is dark tiger striped with splotches of white, white stomach, and white feet. Leonard was the orange tiger striped cat. I thought you found a new home for Turn when you got RM. I picked up the gift shop money this afternoon and managed to get that counted, in the computer, and ready for the bank in the morning. It was a good week moneywise. I am heading off to read for a bit.

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers! The sun is shining and it's a warm 51 degrees right now, heading to the upper 70s today and low 80s tomorrow. I've got to make the bank deposit, pick up an anniversary card for a couple celebrating 70 years, and then to a short P.E.O. meeting to practice for initiation.

I need to finish getting dressed and head out. Have a terrific Tuesday and enjoy! I'll be back later!

[gma22]

Good morning to you all! It is cool and beautiful here this morning. Jack ran Fortune over to the groomers, which takes about 5 minutes because it is basically about 2 blocks away. So, he is out of our hair for the day pretty much.

We got everything put back, I got my fridge sparkling and sorted out so we can go grocery shopping this weekend and will tackle the pantry cabinet tomorrow and clean it up. It looks like a hurricane blew through it. I imagine I will be pitching some old stuff and things that have crept in. I know I have a huge bag of dum dum suckers I bought just to give Jackson a few for Halloween last year and they have to be nasty so out they go.

We have an election Oct 6 and one of them is for mayor. Be interesting to see if the city employees try and give him the boot! I know we aren't gonna vote for him that's for sure.

Wow, one thing we found in Branson that was so refreshing was how clean everything was and pleasant. They had the most gorgeous Walmart you have ever seen. You could have eaten off the floors of this store. The aisles were wide and uncluttered, lots to choose from all nice and neat. Every person you spoke to was sweet and helpful and I found that in every place we went. We have been in Walmarts all over and never saw one like this where it was a pleasure to shop There were no scummy looking places in this town and we were all over, no trash on the streets, etc. There is a reason, but to say what it is would probably get me a reprimand here. It is what it is though.

Jean: Wow, 70 years how wonderful. Don't know if I would want to live long enough for that though. I guess if I weren't widowed though it would be ok. Hope your errands go along smoothly.

Maggie: Sounds like you had a lovely time with friends. We sure met some nice people when we were in Branson. One group were talking about gossiping in their church and it became hilarious. Jack and I just sat and enjoyed people's company.

Well gals, I need to get a show and get dressed and such. I have to go to Walmart and get some sugar wax and try and wax my legs instead of shave them and see how they do. The swelling I had last fall tore up my legs pretty badly making them very almost scabby and I haven't been able to get them back to what they were, so everytime I shave I razor burn the heck out of them. We shall see about the waxing. I need to get a haircut again too so may do that this week. Have a good Tuesday all! Faye

[QuilterInVA]

Good afternoon, ladies! A lovely day and 82 degrees.

I had a wonderful time at retreat. It looks like the cotton is about ready to pick. The route to Wakefield takes you past mile after mile of cotton fields. The bolls are about 3/4ths pf the way open and it looks like a very good crop. It did say in the paper they were going to have a hard time picking because Hurricane Irene beat the plants down so much. They are bent over to about half the height they would be if they were straight like they should be. We do have a lot of fun at retreat, I got a lot of sewing done and the food was excellent. I ate NONE of the homemade rolls and biscuits, pancakes and french toast and came hom .5 lighter. Carbs bother me anymore. It also allowed me to have a scoop of homemade ice cream at lunch and dinner. I skipped the cobbler, cake and pecan pie. They make the best corn pudding and I did enjoy that. One of my friends is from Trinidad and she makes the best homemade wine - only it kicks like a mule. We had a couple of bottles on Saturday night so I sampled that, too. It was so good.

Faye, I'm glad you had a great time on your vacation. Too bad you couldn't go swimming. Did Jack's knee give him any problems? I hope the doc can finally get you straightened out. If the wax doesn't work, you could try Nair. Just thinking about wax makes me cringe.

Jean, I'll bet Bob was surprised when he went into the water. I'm glad he was able to get out without mishap. You are getting to be a good bookkeeper!

Maggie, I hope the new kitty isn't as rambuncious as the 2 you had to find a new home for and the dogs are willing to share you. I do love my cats! That was certainly a nice surprise to see you friends from Texas!

My friend will be here shortly and I'm going to help her get signed up for a Verizon bundle and then we are going to IHOP will I will have the senior Talapia dinner.

Have a great evening!

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

It is a bright sunshiney 79 degree day here in the Heartland. Just got back from eating lunch at the Professors and having our hair cut. I was getting a bit long and Will needed his head shaved badly and his beard and mustach trimmed. Now we are all cleaned up. He is at the phone store where he got his Droid and having them install a new ring tone. Beanie is here in my office driving me nuts with his playing with a pop bottle. He likes to play with it in here because he can make so much more noise than playing with it on a carpet. OH ~ Will is back now and his ring tone is a loud buggle call. I just like to keep my frog ~ ribbet-ribbet. Since he is home now all is quiet. The dogs decided to go greet him and take their toys into his office ~ it is carpeted. I don't have a clue what I want to cook for dinner this day am not hungry so it is probably a good time to decide. Pork chops on the barbie and a baked potato and a green salad with grapes for dessert. Now that wasn't hard was it.

JEAN Sounds like you are in for a lovely day. 70 years and still a couple ~ remarkable. They both must be up in their 90's now. You are becoming quite the book keeper.

DONNA FAYE Sugar wax ~ now that is something I have never heard of. With the thyroid meds I have been taking since my youth I have lost the hair on my legs & arms and the hair on my head has gotten thinner so I have never waxed. Does it hurt? Or does that stuff dissolve the hair? When we lived there in TN by Branson we found it very clean back then. This town where we live now is very clean also. No trash to be found in the Wal*Mart parking lot here. I love the clean look of some of the places we have visited. This is one of the clean Wal*Marts. We have been in places where one was very cean and one across town was not so clean. It all has a lot to do with the manager I do believe.

SUSAN Sounds like you had a real nice time at the retreat and made some good food choices to come home with having lost weight That wine sounds like a good cooking wine. I don't drink spirits but do cook with them. Mule kicking wine would hold up well in a dish bubbling away on the stove. We have found that two cats at a time we could not train. Only one I should be able to get his attention without the dogs in here. That's the plan anyway, and this one is a Manx and they are so much easier to train to play fetch and pick up their toys and put them in a container. We will see for we can always hope, for they are a smarter breed. Never again will we get two together. It's funny that Beanie helped train Ragg Mopp to use the doggie door. Shows you can train an old dog to do tricks. Now all we need is a bird in a cage, fish in a tank and a tarantula in a terrarium. Well, mayby not.

I need to go to the fridge and get out some pork chops. Type at y'all later.

[Jean]

"Gma" -- Enjoy your clean fridge and cupboards! I need to do some tossing from an upper shelf that seems to accumulate things in the back where I can't reach them and forget they are there. I've never heard of sugar wax either. Let us know if it works.

Susan -- I'm glad you enjoyed your retreat! Kudos for passing up the baked goodies, and showing a loss too! I had to chuckle at your description of the wine. I've never seen cotton growing in the fields, maybe someday I will.

Maggie -- The Professors sounds like an interesting place to eat. The anniversary couple is from Bob's home town and still live on their farm. His brother was married to Bob's mother's cousin, both of whom are now gone. Our WM always has a grubby looking parking lot because thoughtless people empty their ashtrays, toss McD sacks, and leave dirty diapers laying wherever they toss them.

I'm heading off to bed!

[gma22]

Good morning to you all. I am a year older today, but don't feel any wiser! I think it will be quiet here today. Jack has his last rehab session and I do want to tackle that pantry.

Fortune came home yesterday looking spiffy with a bright green snoopy scarf off. He hates the things and tries to rub them off, but I make him hear it at least a day because he looks so cute in it.

Susan: Glad you had a wonderful time and on the loss. You can't beat going on a trip and losing weight instead of gaining that's for sure. I haven't gotten on the scales yet to see where I ended up but hopefully not too bad. I only had the blackberry cobbler a couple times! It was tough going with Branson being all hills, but he did ok until our car had tire pressure issues and he squated to look at it and he said it was really sore from then on. He went to his dr yesterday and dr said if it doesn't improve in a week or so to make another appt and come back that they may have to put gel into his knee.

Maggie: What type of restaurant is the Professors? Sounds cute. I have to get my haircut again too. I colored it before we went on vacation so that is good, but I had her leave it longer and changed the style a bit so it needs a good trim.

Jean: Supposedly sugar wax is the new thing and I have no clue whether it hurts or not. I imagine it stings ripping it off like regular waxing, but I have to do something other than shaving. I don't have much hair on my legs, but I do have enough to take it off now and again and it is again. I don't want my dr to have to deal with hairy legs!

I did something, lifted something, carried something, not sure what, but the muscle in my upper arm is so sore I can barely move it. I took a muscle relaxer last night and nothing. I have taken anti inflammatory, put Ben Gay on it as well and tried a heating pad and so far the thing still hurts like the devil. I guess I will put that on the dr list too if it doesn't improve. I can lift my arm straight up, but if I try and take my arm across my body it screams. Right now the muscle is quivering and driving me nuts!

I guess I better haul out the trash. Jack forgot to do it last night. Have a good middle of the week. Faye

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers! The sun is shining brightly and it's supposed to be a warm 80 degree day today. I thought I had a bp check appt. today but it is tomorrow; I wrote the wrong day on the calendar. I have bell practice later today and lots I could do in between now and then.

"Gma" -- I hope you have a GREAT day! I also hope Jack's knee feels better without having to do anything further as far as treatment. I hope your arm feels better as the day goes along. Have you been knitting or isn't that the position that it hurts?

I need to get busy and do something constructive! Have a wonderful Wednesday and enjoy!

[Maggie]

GOOD EARLY AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

It is said we will have a sunny 90 degree day here in the Heartland this day. I will be so glad when the coolness of Fall does arrive. Time sure is flying by so quickly for me these days. This month is almost over and done with. The Jeep is still running well so I guess that last bout of "fixing it" worked. I got raves from the guys for the dinner I fixed last night. Yikes, and it was so simple and easy. Grilled pork chops, green beans, baked potato and a nice big green salad. I covered the chops with lots of lemon pepper before cooking them and they were delicious. Since this is Humpday we will be having Colonel Cluck for that evening meal. I will have the skinless baked chicken and the guys will go for the special chicken friend steak dinner they do on this day. That steak dinner is real good but I don't want to spend my points on it. I am cracking up laughing right now. I sent our boarder an e-mail of somthing I thought he would be real interested in to use on his radio show and he wrote back "Thank you but excuse me, have we met?" He is a hoot. OH ~ I am so glad I got my hair trimmed a bit yesterday for it is so much easier to manage. My gal is going to have a pajama party for all her kids and grand kids and bought them all matching jammies. She is such a nice gal ~ plus rich. Don't you have to be rich to own an airplane and drive a brand new hummer? I think so. I was sent a neat web site and thought you might be interested in it http://www.offthegridnews.com/ Lots of neat and interesting and informational things there. Just thought you might want to take a peek.

DONNA FAYE They say its your brithday Enjoy your day and celebrate my friend. Professors is a huge building with different levels and furnished in Victorial oak tables and chairs. They serve regular food that tastes home cooked. Lots of different entrees and sandwiches and awesome burgers. The noon patrons when we eat there are mainly the suited men and women that work the banks and offices around in the area. It is a nice place and we are friends with the owner/chef type guy who always comes out and joins us while we are waiting for our order. He loves Will's corney jokes that he makes up. He comes out with some good ones I must admit. Let us know how your waxing comes out. Poor Jack. I do hope this is just a minor set-back. Poor YOU. I hope your shoulder gets back to exact quickly. Not having mobility like that is not fun for sure.

JEAN Looks line your neck of the woods warmed up also. Roctober is just around the corner and there is supposed to be frost on the pumpkins. Isn't that the rule? Are you practicing Christmas music on the bells yet? I bet they sound so pretty Will just came back from the gas station and brought me a ger-prize. A bag of original Corn Nuts. 3 points+ for 1/3 cup and he brought me the measuring cup to measure out some. What a guy. The bag says there are 7 servings in it but I doubt that. I like those little things and they can last all day for me. Both dogs came in here when they heard me open the bag ~ thinking it was for them. They are certainly condition trained.

All y'all have a wonderful day. Laugh in the sunshine.

[QuilterInVA]

Good evening, ladies. Raining yet again but it's 72 degrees.

I had the appointment with the dermatologist this morning and he diagnosed the spot on my leg as porokeratosis. It needs regular check ups because it can turn malignant and he gave me some cream to fade it but it will always be there only less noticeable. Then I took my car for wheel balance, tire rotation, alignment and a new air filter. They also filled my tires with nitrogen which is supposed to be better for them. It has larger molecules than the compressed air so doesn't leak out and the tires stay inflated a lot longer without leaking. It didn't cost anything so I'll give it a try.

Happy Birthday, Faye! Are you doing anything special for your day? I have 3 more days of PT so Oct. 7 will be my last day. It bothers me if I sit too long so I have been setting a timer when I am on the computer or sewing because that is when I tend to lose track of time. It stiffens up overnight but comes around pretty quickly once I get moving again.

Jean, cotton stands about 2 feet high and the plants are dry when the bolls are picked. The fields have fluffy white dots all over. When they haul the cotton after picking, it gets all along the sides of the road and looks like snow. It has seeds in it, too....cottonseed oil is made from them after the bolls go through the cotton gin.

Maggie, I'm like you - thyroid problems had inhibited body hair but the hair on my head is still very thick and grows fast. Thanks for the calendars. I do use them. I always wonder how we will be judged for having lavish possessions like airplaines and hummers when so many are hungry and homeless.

Gail, I hope everything is okay with you and yours.

Have a great evening - I hear thunder so time to shut the computer off.