[gma22]

I saw we are way over our 14 ! I always use my dropdown bar and pick up my last post from it so I rarely notice where we are # wise.

Jean: Jack and I actually walked out of a contemporary service once and we would always sit way towards the front. I was offended by it. They seemed to want to have a rock concert over preaching the gospel and I wanted no part of that. I am sure yours is not that way, but I still won't go to contemporary services. Hope your service last night was nice.

Gloria: I burned myself on my left forearm years ago about the size of a good sized cookie. That was a trip to the ER and pretty nasty like yours was. I do have a big discolored scar from it and it has always been more sensitive to heat than any other part of my arm. I seem to have 2 small blisters right in the knuckle area of my thumb and still have a red patch where the thumb meets the rest of the hand, but that is all. It is still tender to the touch though it doesn't hurt.

We are waiting for the hurricane onslot. They expect the tip to reach us by this evening, 8 or more inches of rain and big time wind. It depends on how much it weakens coming up from the gulf across land. It will mess up my swimming that is for sure. They predict it to last most of the week! UGH!

We are now under 7 weeks to vacation. 46 days to be exact. We are getting a head of steam up about it now all excited. I am looking forward to seeing my sister too. I haven't seen her in 18 months. She and I are very close and e-mail pretty much everyday. We always hung out together when we lived in Indiana at the same time all 4 of us doing things together, like going to Friday night high school football and freezing our toucans off! I remember going to one that was so cold you stuck to the bleachers. Her dh refused to leave so she, her dd and I went back to their van and sat in it. I grew up in that weather but it sure seemed easier to sit through a football game when I was a teenager!

Well, my kitty cat is meowing at me for attention so I guess I better go.

Have a great day!

Faye

[gma22]

Good morning gals! It is hot and humid, rainy and windy here today. The tip of Dennis has finally reached us here. It doesn't seem too bad yet, but it is supposed to really rain by mid afternoon and the winds are supposed to be about 40-50 mph. We can sure use the rain, but it floods here really easily and they are expecting flooding.

We spent a quiet weekend at home. I got ambitious and cleaned the downstairs yesterday, shampooing carpets, washing and rehanging curtains, rearranging the living room so of course I am a sore old lady today! I am going to clean upstairs today, but will leave curtains for another day I think. I told Jack cleaning was sure harder to do it seemed when you are old than when you are young. He chuckled and said I clean so much that in cleaning years I should be about 90! He should appreciate it, I could be a PIG! I told him I was counting the time to go on vacation according to how many more times I have to do weekly cleaning. He shook his head and said, "Only you would consider that!"

We rented Phantom of the Opera (we have always wanted to see it on Broadway) but haven't watched it yet. Yesterday was baseball and Nascar race so.....I think we will probably watch it with dinner tonight.

Do either of you lady's knit? I learned to knit when I was about 13 for 4H but the lady that taught us, had to teach me backwards because I am left handed. She taught me the two basics, knit and purl, but everything else I have had to learn on my own. Unfortunately, it makes it hard to decipher instructions sometimes as I have to reverse them in my mind. I want to make my niece a baby blanket for her baby that is due in January and I found this pattern for Harry Potter scarves so I think I am going to make one for my grandson for Christmas. They are scarves for younger children so they shouldn't be too big, in fact the instructions say they have been modified. Problem is, I used to have tons of books and needles, spacers and all kinds of stuff and I got rid of them after we moved here because I didn't think I would ever go back to knitting, but I think I need a hobby at home or I am going to scrub the color off the floors!

Well, Jack should be up in about 20 minutes so I am going to try and get my downstairs chores done. Have a good day everybody

Faye

[Jean]

Happy Monday, Flowers! It's hot and humid here but only 84 degrees as I type; I went for my walk early! I'm working on my sorting and pitching project again today. Someday I will get it finished . . . OR ELSE!

I could have sworn I posted here yesterday but I don't see it. My mind is going, I'm just sure of it.

Gloria -- I've done the "lid on the stove" caper myself but fortunately didn't get burned too badly. Since I've gotten my smooth top stove, I've hit the hot edges numerous times when I'm working around it. That's the one thing I don't like about it; there is a warning light that it is still hot so you'd think I'd learn.

"Gma" -- Thanks for starting the new thread. . .I was surprised to see there were 18 posts on the old one without rolling over to page 2. Our Saturday night church service is the same as the traditional Sunday service except we don't have the choir or any special music performers there. Our contemporary service has the band and they project everything on the wall, yet they do have the same sermon, Bible verses, etc., as the traditional services. We saw a live presentation of Phantom of the Opera so if you ever get a chance, do go. I would like to see it again because it moves pretty fast and we were seated quite a ways back from the stage so I know we missed some things. I can knit and purl, but everything I have ever made is either square or rectangle because I never learned to read a pattern.

I need to keep moving. Have a great day!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[gma22]

Morning gals! It is cool this morning having had the rain move through, but it is all gone now for awhile at least. Looks like we have another one right behind it!

Jean: If you have the two stitches down, you can do anything. Everything is a combo of those two. The one think I need to learn is attaching sleeves to sweaters and stuff like that. I am thinking of maybe taking a couple classes next year at our local yarn place. I used to make booties for every woman that would have a baby. I have a feeling you have a gremlin that keeps bringing back the junk you pitch as you always seem to be working at it! I guess I had an advantage because I would garage sale and pitch every time we were transferred and we moved about every three years so I kept everything under control. I have tons of stuff right now in the garage in trash bags to take to Goodwill or somewhere to get rid of it.

Jack and I had a really rough night. The animals would not lay still and kept us up all night. Poor man, he was dragging this morning. I feel like I have been worked over. Everything hurts this morning. I think part of it is the weather here. It rained all day yesterday and I think my old bones just didn't like it much. I will get out in the pool this morning and try and work out the stiffiness I hope.

Not much else going on here.

Have a good day

Faye

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers!
I will chat with you while I listen to Paul Harvey and wait for the dryer to finish. It's hot and humid here but the sky/air is kind of hazy.

I am torked! We were missing one kitten yesterday and another one this morning. The mother cat has taken them to the fields near us and left them for a day, I suppose to get used to being without her. Anyhow, the mother cat was pacing around on the deck, calling to them, and watching next door. The one kitten left was glued to her side. The next door live trap was gone and I'm betting the cat hater caught one (both?) in the trap. If he'd just leave them alone, we move them to a farm as soon as they are tame enough to catch by hand. I am so mad! He was out working in his flowers next to our garage and I was going to ask him what he did with them. By the time I got out there he had gone inside.

I thought I had bought an anniversary card for Jason and Amanda, now I can't find it! I remember looking at them when I was buying a bunch of other cards so now wonder if I decided to wait until closer to their day. It will be #6 on Sunday! Time does fly! My car is in the shop so they can find a clunk when I turn left. I can think of lots of places that I could go if I had wheels today!

"Gma" -- I am always finding stuff that I've stashed when I've been in a hurry to pick up . . . usually before someone comes to visit! We've lived here 21 years and that is part of the problem! Little by little I am getting the kids' stuff moved out to them. I am making progress. I've had some nights like you described and I don't like 'em much! I feel like I drag the whole next day!

I need to keep looking for my card or else buy another one when I go to WW this afternoon.

Jean -- from Iowa!

[nanacas]

It has one of those perfect weather days. Sunny,warm, light breezy. I could live the rest of my life with days like this. Then I had to spoil it and we went to the Commissary today. It was a tween week so not a large shopping list, it just was crowded, as usual. Of course we had our teeth cleaning appointment first so we were late starting out. Then as we got back to town, DH decided to check the barber shop to see if they had an opening for a hair cut and they took him right then. "Hon, take the car and I will walk home." Naturally that meant that I would unload the car. Actually he did suggest I wait til he got home and he would help but I had it all done by the time he got home. I'm not really mad but it was a real crazy day.

JEAN: Those poor kittens. It is so unfair that he could get away with that when you are such an animal person and would have taken them to the farm later. I know what you mean about the kids stuff. We have a very large garage and the kids know it......need I say more. This spring we did a good job but it does need more work.

Faye: It has been a very long time since I have done any knitting. I made Argyle socks, back when men wore them and I have made sweaters but if I remember no one ever really wore them. For a while I did some counted cross stitch pieces but that kind of thing really took it's toll on my eyes. Now it is just the computer that makes them tired.

Gloria in MA....have a great night gals and stay cool.

[gma22]

Morning gals! Hope all is well with you this morning!

Jean: My dd's anniversary was yesterday so I am behind getting them their card and gift. I will most likely get out and get it tomorrow. They may still be on vacation anyway, I am not sure. Just what does that jerk of a neighbor think cats do that is so bad? Outdoor cats protect his land and house from rodents just like they do yours. What he is doing is illegal. Too bad you can't catch him at it on video and turn it over to the police. What an outrageous thing to do put out traps for cats. You don't have one of those feral cat laws, do you? If so, he can do it and get away with it. There are certainly ugly human beings in this world.

Gloria: I get to do the commissary thing Friday and I do so look forward to it..... Half the time, they don't have the shelves stocked even though supposedly that is done on Thursdays. They always have some excuse when I complain about it. They also keep changing what they stock. We will buy something we really like and pretty soon they quit stocking it. They also only stock what is "permitted." I wanted a certain type of hot dog stocked because they stocked this brand of smoked sausage I thought it wouldn't be a problem so I asked. NOPE, can't do it. It is stupid really. Then we have these crabby elderly men in their scooters who think they own the aisles and you should just wait on them. I don't mind waiting, but they park where you cannot get around then decide to visit with another old cronie in a scooter and you are stuck!

I froze in that pool yesterday. Between the air being cooler and the water was cold from the big rain, it was hard to workout but I just did laps. I didn't want to do aerobics and have half my body out in the cool air. I was already cold. What I do to be beautiful!

Have a great day girls!

Faye

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers!
I am late getting in here today because I decided I needed to get "X" amount of my "to do" list done before I got to visit on the computer. I did get alot done but the only problem is that most of it isn't visible to someone just walking through.

Not much is going on here in my corner of the world. HOT, HOT, HOT is the word for the day! The humidity is higher so it feels worse, I think.

I showed a .4# gain at weigh-in last night. I'm surprised it wasn't more because I really blew it over the weekend. I will try to do better next weekend. I do well during the week but the weekends are killers.

Gloria -- These cat hating neighbors are the type of people who have the perfect house, new cars, matched designer wardrobe, look down on everyone else, have to run the show whether it is at church or the organizations they belong to, etc. In the 20 years we have lived here, we have been civil to each other but never overly friendly. We have a weird shaped lot and there used to be a metal picket fence, with the posts set in cement, around our yard. DH uses the post holes in front as a guideline to mow while he dug out the cement chunks in the back yard. This yahoo keeps covering the sunken cement holes with piles of dirt and tries to get grass to grow. DH just pitches the dirt back in his yard -- you can't see the post holes unless you are standing right on top of them and the grass has grown pretty close to the holes anyway. Someone before us just cut the posts off rather than dig the cement bases out. When we first moved here this guy was shooting rabbits until I pitched a fit because our kids were little and outside playing. We have a big yard but I always worried that his aim might hit a tree or rock and bounce off hitting one of the kids. I'm sure he wouldn't tell me what he did with the kittens even if I asked -- I just hope he dumped them in the same place so they found each other and are together. The mother cat is still looking in that direction and I've called her back several times today. I'm afraid she might get to the trap and smell the kittens, then go in herself.

"Gma" -- The neighbors claim the cats eat THEIR birds! We have bird feeders out and the cats don't pay any attention to the birds. We do have "open season" on ferrel cats; the police trapped over 90+ cats this winter in a trailer court that the locals call Little Mexico. They move in and out, don't spay nor neuter, and leave the cats to run wild. Sad! We don't live anywhere near the trailer court but there was a notice in the paper that if anyone was feeding stray cats, they would be responsible for them if a neighbor complained. At the time our neighbors were wintering in CA. She is such a pain that she will send him over to complain about a certain color cat she saw in her yard and wants to know if it might be one of our inside cats (who don't go outside and we've told them that). He always starts out by talking about the weather or the boat or the yard but always ends up complaining about the cats. DH says when we sell out, if they are still here, we are going to recruit the biggest minority family we can find and hope they park their junk cars in the yard!

Have a terrific Thursday!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[gma22]

Morning gals! Allergies were driving me nuts so I got up early this morning and spent money! I bought a pair of Clark sandals for vacation and some new bras and paid my Barnes and Noble book order so they will ship my book this weekend.

Jean: Sell to Sigfried and Roy and then he will really have cats to complain about. Don't you just hate people like that? I mean, sheesh it is ok to want to have nice things and all that, but it isn't like you have a pack of dogs wandering around pooping in their yard! I have a screwball neighbor you can have that lives down the street and wanders around the neighborhood, pees in public, sits on the sidewalks and eats and all kinds of crazy stuff. He IS mentally ill but when he doesn't take his meds he does some goofy stuff. That would really drive them over the edge to have this guy pee on their begonias or something!

I am going to be out and about running errands today and tomorrow is UGH commissary day. That I am dreading! First off, it will be payday for the active duty people and secondly I just hate it anyway! Problem is, I just plain save too much money not to go out there and shop.

My burn is coming along, but is at the uncomfortable healing part where the new skin is stiff. I can barely bend my thumb and when I do, sometimes break it back open again. That can make it burn in the pool, but a bandage won't stay on in the pool.

Please forgive me if I already told you this, but I thought I had seen everything in or around the pool until Saturday. I went out to do my workout and the pool was really clean so I know the pool cleaners had been there on Friday. I saw in the shallow end, though, something blue. I thought is was a balloon as they had a party at the clubhouse over the 4th and never cleaned up the mess! I nudged it with my toe and it was hard so I kicked it into shallow water so I could pick it up. It was a plaster cast dental inprint of someone's upper teeth, plus it had two REAL teeth glued into the front! It had Green Dental Laboratory stamped on the "block" the teeth were on and so I guess someone must have worked there or was given their impression and gave it to their kid to play with???? EUWWWW!

With that stuck in your head, I am going!

Faye

[nanacas]

Oh, Faye: Now I am going to picture those teeth in the pool all day!
Don't you just love those Clark sandels. This weekend I just bought myself a pair of Clarks (Springers) sandels. The pair I had had were 8 years old and I had worn them every day each summer....they just fell apart....why? I wasn't sure I could find another pair and had to walk all over the Plaze to finally find a pair in my size. These have three straps across the instep and are sooooo comfortable. They are the only shoes I can wear in the Summer without aching feet. I would have bought two pair but they were out of my size and were stocking winter shoes. Ugh!

Jean: Those people are just not nice. And that is the nicest thing I can say about them. I like your husbands idea to sell the house to someone who will park broken down cars in the drive. Serves them right.

The lovely lady next door...about mid 4o's call to tell us she is getting a divorce. We never realized anything was wrong and her husband seemed to be a nice guy. You never know. They have 2 small kids and it must be tough on them. He has moved out and I think she has served him with a restraining order.

Gloria in MA.....looking forward to an easy day today. Stay cool folks.

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers!
It's already 88 degrees with 60% humidity and it's not even noon yet.

I went for my walk early and it was plenty warm. My car was supposed to be picked up at 8 to have a part put in and it would take about 2 hours. It was still in the driveway at 9:30 so I called. I lied and said I had an appt. this afternoon; DH is out of town and I wanted to be sure the car would be back in time. They came and got it right away! It makes me when they set the time and don't show up! We'll see if it's back in 2 hours . . . they've got about 17 minutes to go.

"Gma" -- The best thing that happens to the nieghbors is when their 3 daughters come home and they all have dogs! The dogs have to stay in crates in the garage but do poop/pee in their yard. The sons-in-law are out there right behind the dogs scooping it up. Two of the dogs are hunting dogs so that is why they get to come along. The other is a little lap type dog and I suppose his "mother" figures if the other two can come so can her's. I'm going shopping this afternoon and hope to find some Clark's sandals. Today is Ridiculous Days but there is never a very big crowd. I had to about the teeth in your pool . . . it could have been something MUCH worse!

Gloria -- That is too bad about your neighbors. I always feel so badly for the children as it is never easy; they often blame themselves for the break-up. I love my Clarks too! We try real hard to just ignore the neighbors -- funny part is that they will wave like mad if we happen to be outside talking to other neighbors. She is all for public show! Everyone knows what they are like and people just put up with them.

I need to vacuum my screens; the cottonwood trees are dropping fuzzies again and it almost looks like it is snowing outside. Since the vacuum is out, the screens are on the inside, and the air is on, I guess I will go do that!

Hope you all have a nice day! Keep cool!

Jean -- in Iowa!

[gma22]

Morning gals! Rainy and thundering this morning so guess my pool work is out for today. Oh well guess I will clean the downstairs as I decided to wait until tomorrow to tackle the commissary.

Jean: I have found that mechanics don't particularly give a care whether or not they get your car done and that you are stranded. The only place I have found that were really good was the place that did the repairs to the car when I hit the deer. He got us a rental immediately and drove us to pick it up. He is a really nice man and wouldn't let us have the car back until it was absolutely perfect. Well, as perfect as you can get when a deer smashed the whole front end! lol

I weinied out and bought stuff online for my dd's anniversary and dil's birthday. My dd's anniversary was the 12th and I figured I was late so might as well be LATE! I ordered them 6 mediteranean beef skewers, 12 burgers and 6 stuffed baked potatoes from Omaha Steaks. Got the burgers free actually and saved $20 on the skewers and potatoes! Got the whole shebang for $42 and that included the shipping! They are very hard to buy for and last year I had the fruit basket fiasco where Fedex delivered and stuck it behind a plant so when dd found it bugs had had a feast with it, so this year had it shipped to her in-laws (they live across the street and sit for Thomas so they are home most of the time) As for dil, my Home Interiors lady ordered my Chinese plates later than she should and so her birthday present is going to be late too (the lady is a close personal friend and lives in Indiana so is going to deliver them in a gift bag for me when they come in!) so I ordered my dil a little birthday cookie bouquet and am having it sent to my son's work to surprise her. She is a pharmacist for Meijers (a Target like store in the north) and she floats sometimes to other Meijer stores so I didn't want it delivered where she wouldn't be. Her birthday is not until the 21st and so at least part of it will get there on time. I LOVE ordering gifts online and not having to shop in stores for them, etc. I do a lot of online shopping and rarely have I sent anything back. I have had problems, which I complained loudly about and got satisfaction, but never found that what I order is not what I ordered you might say.

Guess I should get the rest of my normal chores done and get started on the downstairs. What I would really like to do is go back to bed. Had one of those "wake up every hour and check the clock" nights so I am pooped!

Faye ***Have a good weekend!***

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers!
It's 88 degrees and supposed to hit 95 before the day is over. I'm ready for some cooler weather!

I picked up my new contacts yesterday and can't see diddly so called this morning and went in to have them checked. The doc acted like I was pulling his leg until he had me reading the chart! I've worn them for too long to not know when I can see and when I can't! I had trouble years ago when his partner ordered a new contact for me and he ended up going with another company to get one that fit and I could see with. We'll see what the next pair is like. Made a trip to WM for garbage bags and then stopped downtown to pick up another pair of Clarks sandals on sale for $15 off. Now I'm home and intend to stay inside for the rest of the day!

"Gma" -- We could use some rain! The yards are really looking dry and starting to turn brown. Our water is so expensive that we don't water anything except flowers. Where do you order cookie bouquets from? That sounds like a cute idea! We get ads all the time from Omaha Steaks but I always wondered how they would ship meat and keep it from spoiling. I slept good last night but have had plenty of "check the clock" nights. I hate that! I hope you sleep better tonight!

I need to get some laundry going and pick up my sorted piles from this week's effort of pitching and sorting.

Have a great day!

Jean -- : from Iowa!

[gma22]

Morning gals. Sorry I didn't get in here yesterday. Busy busy day! I had to go to the dreaded commissary for one thing! I had laundry to catch up on, though don't exactly know how that was considering I do laundry everyday and there are just the two of us!

Jean: Omaha Steaks ships your stuff in a reusable styrofoam cooler packed in dry ice. I ended up ordering stuff for us as they had pretty much everything on sale. I got 4 steaks, 2 bags of bbq pork, the 12 burgers, 8 chicken cordon bleu, 8 stuffed baked potatoes, 10 servings of potatoe au gratin and 30 slices of cookie dough. They have a really terrific variety and their meat and stuff is guaranteed so you don't really lose if you don't like it.
Here is the place I ordered the cookies, but just google in cookie bouquet and it will bring up a bunch of places. We used to order them for people when I worked at the law firm as there was a cookie bouquet place in town.
http://www.cookiebasketsandbouquets.com

Sometimes I hate Walmart! We went there on Friday night after dinner to get some stuff and I needed to get a new ice tea brewer. Ours is like 8 years old and the pitcher is all stained and cracked and the basket for the tea bags came apart and part of it fell onto the heating elements in the dishwasher and melted! Anyway, I saw they had them online for like $18 ( we paid like $40 when the things came out, same brand) and they have colors now. We finally found them in the store but they only had red where you could reach them and the blue ones I wanted were way up high. We searched all over the place for help (dh getting more irritated by the second) and I finally found someone. I told her I was in housewares by the coffee pots and needed help getting a box high up. She looked at her watch and back at me and said, "yeah, ok, I will be there in a minute." five minutes later nothing then an announcement someone needed help in housewares. By this time I was fuming and ready to just take the red one as about 10 minutes had passed and no one ever came. Jack got mad, went to the curtain department, got a long curtain rod, brought it back and used it to push the box over the edge, then left the curtain rod on the floor telling me to leave it as they needed to put it back since we couldn't get any help! They think they are such a great store, but most of the time I hate it. All our stores are dirty, crowded aisles and rudely staffed and no body cares to want to help you. Wish I could shop at Lowes like I do at Walmart as I seem to get a lot more help there!

Well, the house is calling me to start cleaning and I need to do the pool before it rains today.

Faye

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers!
We just had a thunderstorm roll through and it is raining pretty hard right now. We need the rain as everything is so dry.

Today is Jason and Amanda's 6th wedding anniversary and I volunteered to babysit, last night, so they could go out to eat or see a movie or whatever. After a few hours of entertaining their two plus having the other two grandchildren visit, I really appreciate the peace and quiet at home! We didn't get home until late so slept in this morning. That is very rare around here. I was smart enough to give Leonard extra food before going to bed so he left us alone this morning. We were the only ones at MIL's this afternoon so took her for a ride around the lakes area and then she took us out for a late lunch/early supper. It was so miserably windy and hot when we got there, the huge waves rolling in would have prohibited taking the boat out or the little kids from playing along the beach. I took a nap and DH tried his luck at fishing off the dock. By the time we left it was a smooth as glass and the mother ducks were swimming around with their babies. They are so fun to watch.

"Gma" -- I HATE WM ALL the time! They have run any competition out of town and their prices are higher than any other WM within a 75 mile radius. If you call them on it and/or have proof, they will give you the lower price. Unfortunately, it is the only place in town where you can get some things. I try to make a list and shop when we go to see the kids but that doesn't always work either. I'm glad you got your blue tea maker! Thanks for the website; I'm going to check it out when I finish here.

I'm going to chatch the news and head for bed. Have a marvelous Monday tomorrow!

Jean -- in Iowa!