[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers! It's another beautiful morning in my corner of the world. I went to the lab this morning, home for juice and a mini muffin, then back for a physical. Since I've dropped a few #s, all of my numbers are in the normal range so no lectures this time around. I will say that this new doctor is not nearly as thorough (not sure that's the word I want) as my old doctor. Of course my old doctor has kids that same age as our's so we always had to visit about them. I have WW at 11:30, then need to do some deep corner cleaning . . . just can't decide which corner to start in.

I'm waiting for a phone call from the bank. I used my debit card and it's not on my bank statement; when I called their computers were down so have to call back later if they don't call first.

I'm off -- have a terrific Thursday!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[Jean]

bringing thread #37 to the top

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers! I woke up to thunder, lightning, and rain about 5 this morning. We got another 2+" of rain which we don't need right now. The sun is supposed to come out and if it does we will head to the lake to mow, vacuum, and dust. Jason and Amanda are planning on taking 2 other couples, stay there, and go to a concert this weekend. I'm looking forward to a weekend at home!

I'm off to write a couple of church birthday cards and get my day going. Hope you all have a fantastic Friday and a nice weekend!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[gma22]

Good morning everyone! Well it is finally Friday. We had a huge thunderstorm roll through her last night and lasted quite awhile. Jack and I were watching a Law and Order episode, one neither of us had seen, and the storm came through 10 minutes before it was finished and we found out who did the killing and knocked out our satellite. Bummer! lol It was back and forth from then on until at least after 9 so I gave up and just went to bed. Missed this weeks "Burn Notice" so will have to watch it on the computer later in the week when the website puts it on.

Poor little Fortune was sick Wednesday night and yesterday until evening with loose stools, which you know is always fun with a pet. I gave him one of his Flagyl that the vet prescribed for him and it fixed him right up. He got into something out back I imagine as he is fit as a fiddle now. I am waiting for a new flew medicine to come by Fedex today. Kelly and Tom said they thought he had fleas at their house and I did find some scabs, but no "flea dust" that indicates fleas and he wasn't scratching at all and neither are we so who knows. I just decided to be safe and just change to another medication.

Jean: Good for you. Glad all your medical stuff came back normal. I am going to schedule my physical for October since we are going away in Sept. I set up my mammogram for my birthday month so I always remember so just do my physical at the same time. I was watching one of the home shows on tv a couple weeks ago and this young couple bought a big fixer upper house above their budget planning on remodeling the basement and having tenants. The show is called Income Property and this guy who has tons of income property comes in and gives them a couple options on what to do with the space to make it rentable. Well, I guess while the show was being filmed this poor couple had someone use their debit card somehow and stole over $1000 out of their account, which would have made their house payment bounce. The guy from the show and his workers got together and gave them a check for the money to put back into their account. Made me think that not everyone is out to get you! I like watching Holmes on Homes too. He is a really good guy.

Went swimming with T yesterday and had a good visit. We talked about a lot of things as usual and I learned tips on what to do and not to do while on a cruise. He is a learned cruiser now so can give me the inside lowdown! lol He scared me to death though. We were racing and he swims underwater and I on top. The water was a bit cloudy yesterday, I was swimming and he must have lost where he was because he came up underneath me right in front of me. I grabbed him right as he came up because I was still swimming and would have knocked right into him. We had a laugh about it, but it was a bit of a shocker. I can never beat him of course, but it makes for fun and great exercise.

Well gals, I am going to go and get some breakfast and get some work done. Have a nice weekend this weekend. Faye

[QuilterInVA]

Good evening, ladies! A lovely day in the low 80s and 50% humidity.

We had a really bad storm last night - flooding in some areas and the whole works. We sure needed the rain, however. It was so nice this morning I went for my walk. It felt good to be able to walk outside again. I hope this keeps up for awhile.

Jean, congrats for the good news at the doctor's office. It's amazing how losing a few pounds can improve our health.

Faye, that storm must have come right on over here! I'm glad you are getting to spend more time with T this summer. You have always enjoyed your swimming.

I'm going to go get a glass of iced tea and my book - "How to Wash a Cat" - a mystery, and sit outside and read this afternoon.

Enjoy your day!

[Maggie]

HOWDY MAGONLIAS

Just peeking in before I head to bed. We had quite an experience today. Will went down and added the truck to our insurance and got lisence plates for it. The gal at the DMV asked who the lein holder was and Will said he paid cash and so there was no lein holder. She went in another office and came back out and said she really needed to know who the lein holder is so she could get it put on the new title. It was hard to get her to understand that he had paid cash in full for that truck and there was not a lein holder. Got it all done then we went shopping and took the truck. On the way home it just quit in the street. We were in front of a gas station and next door to that is a tire shop. Just after the truck stopped three men ran out of the tire shop and proceeded to push us up the driveway beside the gas station. They went back in their shop and just as Will was getting out his phone one of the men came out bringing us two chilled bottles of water and asked if we needed any help. We thanked them and said no we knew just who to call. Called the place we bought it and the man came quickly to where we were. Well wouldn't you know, it started right up but he didn't hesitate to tell us to drive back to the mechanic shop down the road where the car place is and he would follow us. When we got there he said they wanted to keep it and would give us a truck to drive in the meantime. The folks holding the title on our Jeep said it may be the middle of the month before they send it out because they have many requests and they did get the fax requesting it. What ever is wrong with that truck they will fix it and in the meantime we have something to drive till the Jeep gets its proper lisence.

I am off to bed now ~ it is 12:30 ~ Type at y'all later.

[gma22]

Good Saturday morning to you all! It is quiet here at the moment. Jack is asleep, I have fed Fortune and he is sitting here at my feet and no one outside is making any noise, no sirens, no loud cars, etc like there usually is.

We are going to try and get some cleaning today if it doesn't get too hot. We need to shampoo carpets again and I want to do my weekly cleaning starting upstairs, but it is going to have to wait if it gets too hot. I tried doing it yesterday but it was stifling upstairs and I just couldn't do it. I had already dragged the vacuum upstairs so I need to get it done first before working on the downstairs. We shall just do it as we can I guess. Maybe I can get Jack to vacuum while I am cleaning bathrooms to hurry it up a bit.

Jack's plant is allowing workers to work sliding hours, ie you can either come in a 6 am and work until 2 or work 7 am until 3. Well, except for Jack and a female electrician everyone else works the early shift so Jack said he and Beth are practically the only ones there after 2 pm except the two ladies who handle reception and accounting stuff and the plant manager. I guess all the foremen elected to work the early shift and all but he and this gal so he said the place is deserted from 2-3. I bet that is kind of weird.

Maggie: Glad you are sorting things out with the truck and Jeep. We own the Grand Marquis free and clear, but we have never had a question about the lien when we get tags. We have to have the cars inspected here before we can get tags, but nothing like Susan has to do in Va. Ours is mostly working turn signals, lights, etc and air quality thingy. Va pulls the tires and checks brakes and all kinds of stuff. I think if I am right, you have to pay for that too, but Susan may have to correct me. They do it through authorized gas stations and here we have city run places that do it. Funny thing you can drive into a suburb that is part of the county and they don't have to be inspected so I imagine a lot of dishonesty goes with the territory. For example, we live in the city limits and have to have it done, but Kelly and Tom live in the county and don't and they are just across town from us.

Susan: I am having a good time swimming with Thomas. Since he has gotten older we can talk about a lot more things and do a lot more things than when he was littler. I have to say though that when he dives to swim underwater I get a little nervous until I see that red head pop up. He is a little fish though and swims better than most kids. He doesn't have a fear of the water either, which makes it better. I have never heard of that book. I heard that the lady that writes "the cat who" books has passed away. They were getting a little stale in recent years I think. I need to go out and buy the other Evanovich book that came out a week ago. I just haven't seen it anywhere and I looked at Krogers and Walmart, both carry her books. I don't want to pay full price at a book store and our libraries are horrible here when it comes to getting new books. You end up on a wait list forever because they buy so few copies.

I guess I should get some chores done before Jack gets up. Have a good Saturday all. Faye

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers! It's another nice morning in my corner of the world. We've been to the Farmer's Market so have fresh veggies. I'm looking forward to the green beans which will be our first for the summer. Stopped at the Buick dealership and we have decided on a red Enclave. Since we've been out and about this morning I haven't accomplished anything; chatting with you is more fun than anything else I should be doing.

Susan -- Our farm fields and the roadside ditches are flooded. I hope the farmers were smart and bought crop insurance, otherwise they will be SOL. Do you wear your Sketchers just for walking or when you are out and about also? I had to at the title of your book. One of the teachers I worked with gives her cat a bath. She thought it helped with shedding. Needless to say, she is not the cat's most favorite person.

"Gma" -- It makes me nervous when Ian dives also. With all of our rain it is deep at the end of the dock, but that's not the case every year. Since our relative had the diving accident 3 years ago, I still worry. I hope Fortune is back to normal again. If Jack is done working at 3, is there anyone around in case of an emergency? I would like those hours.

Maggie -- I hope you get your Jeep license sooner rather than later. There has been some debate about just having a rear plate in Iowa next time. I guess there are several states that have only one plate. I'm sorry you've had mechanical trouble with your pickup already. I mentioned to Bob that you had fired Medicare and he was surprised. He said he's never had anyone complain about the coverage. His BCBS picks up what Medicare doesn't pay. I will be finding out in October I guess.

I need to get laundry going so better move on. I see the dust and fur bunnies are multiplying again -- time to vacuum. Have a nice weekend whatever your plans are!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[QuilterInVA]

Good afternoon, ladies! What a lovely day, 83 degrees. I'll go for my walk after dinner.

I was down .8 at WW this morning. My friend Pat usually goes to a different meeting but she was at mine today so we went to Starbucks to have a coffee and catch up. I just had a decaf iced coffee with skim milk and splenda.

I went to the Kroger after the meeting and got a cart full of veggies, fruit, yogurt (including frozen yogurt), and meat. I was surprised when my WW leader suddenly appeared behind me in line. She congratulated me on the good choices. I have to finish my menus for next week when I get done with this.

Faye, you are right about the inspections in VA. Mine comes up in September. They can only charge $12 to do it, but mine are free because I buy my tires at the garage. While it is a pain, it is also good because you don't have a bunch of cars on the road that aren't safe. Before they start the inspection, they are required by law to remove your current sticker. If they find something that needs to be fixed, you either get it fixed there and then or you have to have it towed somewhere. It sounds like yours might be a city thing instead of statewide. I really didn't like the way the "Cat Who" author ended the series but I believe she was in her 80s. I sure did enjoy them for a lot of years.

Jean, right now I'm only wearing the Sketchers for walking. I'm a sandals kind of gal. Come winter when I have to go back to shoes and socks, I'll wear them daily.

Maggie, the kid at the DMV must not think anyone ever doesn't have a lien on their car. Sad comment on society.

Have a great evening!

[Maggie]

This is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice & be glad in it.

Have a wonderful day Magnolias. I'll be back later . . .

[gma22]

Good morning ladies! It is already hot, hot, hot this morning. It was over a 100 degrees yesterday and looks like it is going to climb up there again.

My weigh in is tomorrow so I am hoping it is good news. I know I am fickle, but I went back to weight watchers but am using the other program too. I went ahead and signed up for WW online so I could keep better track. I do find that they need to bump up their list more. They haven't even put in their newest WW frozen items. I bought their little slider cheeseburgers for lunch and they are new and aren't in the system. I also found that Lean Cuisine meals seem to be missing too. As expensive as the thing is you would think they would try to have the largest data base possible to draw from. Ahh well!

Jean: I love my little red SUV. The Enclave is a pretty SUV/crossover and it is about the same size as our Mariner only it is sort of oval shaped and the Mariner is more the square and is a small SUV instead of a crossover. I love the red color. It looks a lot like our red. I was crushed when Ford said they were discontinuing the Mercury line as we love our Mercurys. I know Ford is still in trouble. My brother works for Ford in Chicago and is only working part time. He has a new house he had built 2 years ago and may lose it because his hours have been cut so drastically. He is a licensed electrician, but he is morbidly obese, over 50 and a severe diabetic all not condusive to changing jobs and if his credit is suffering because of his job problems it would make it even harder.

Susan: on your loss. I don't see you loading up with junk food no matter what so you would probably never be embarrassed to have your ww person behind you at the grocery. I am hoping I finally got a handle on why I have the swelling we shall see. I am giving it a couple days and see it what I think was the problem is the problem, taking benadryl for insomnia. I looked all over about it causing swelling, but nothing indicates it causes this except in serious cases of tongue and face swelling, which I haven't had, but then I didn't take it yesterday and my feet have gone down some so we shall see. Ooh, I love going and getting fresh fruits and veggies. This next weekend is commissary weekend and Jack is getting back on WW so we will be bulking up on fresh veggies and fruit. I have found that Walmart actually has pretty good fruit. The commissary has some things that are great and some not so much. I am going to try and eat a salad with dinner every night to help with my veggies adding them to salad fixings.

Well, I need to go and finish the dusting upstairs than it is completely clean. We shampooed upstairs this morning so it is all smelling nice too. Tomorrow is cleaning downstairs then Tuesday is downstairs rug shampooing. Have a nice Sunday all! Faye

[QuilterInVA]

Good afternoon, ladies! It's only 75 after more rain during the night and it looks like we might get a little more. Perfect after the record breaking heat in June and July.

I went to early church this morning, made vegetable soup for the coming week, and ate my lunch. I didn't sleep very well last night so I think I might be going up and taking a nap, or at least read for awhile.

Faye, Manufacturers pay to have their food in the WW database and books. From experience, I can tell you it's not easy to update a 24/7 database because it has to be shut down for a compile for the changes to take effect. I like www.livestrong.com/mydailyplate to look up stuff and keep track of calories. Their database is humongous for food and exercise. By the way, my leader said if you said you were sedentary on the points quiz, you can count housework as activity. I like to keep track of it but I don't eat the points I earn. My pedometer that I ran through the wash cycle is working a little off so I ordered an new one from Amazon and got a little upgrade to the PC model so I can download my activity and track it on the computer. I think the best car we ever had was a Mercury Sable. Then I loved my Neons and now they don't make them. The Walmart here is more expensive than Kroger for produce and the quality is poor. I sure hope you have discovered the cause of the swelling. You might try one of the PM tylenol or other brand. I like Walmarts brand.

Have a great day!

[Jean]

Good Morning - Afternoon, Flowers! My clock just chimed 12 noon. We went to early church, read the papers, and have a load of laundry going. I need to clean out the inside of the car later when the driveway is in the shade. It's only 80 degrees but feels humid outside.

Susan -- Congrats on another loss! You are getting closer to your goal each week. I need to make a grocery run and stock up on some staples that are getting low. Farmer's Market will be Thursday night so I'm hoping to go and get fresh veggies again. Thanks for sharing the website; I have not seen that one before.

Maggie -- I hope you enjoy your day!

"Gma" -- I haven't seen the WW Sliders around here. How much does it cost to do WW online? I should get busy and use the e-tools more, but just get in a rut and don't think about it.

I hear the dryer buzzing so time to check on the laundry. Have a nice "rest of the day," and a Marvelous Monday!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[gma22]

Good morning ladies! I hope your week has started out well. I have some kind of tummy bug. I hope I didn't catch it from Will and Maggie! I woke up about 1 am queasy, but it is now full on so it is clear liquids for me I guess and crackers. Like Maggie, I am not vomiting but seem to have the other though not repeat acts for far so keeping my fingers crossed. I am just going to take it easy and do the downstairs tomorrow since I have the upstairs done now and the carpets shampooed upstairs. I can do the cleaning tomorrow and the rugs on Wed and maybe get some swimming in with T on Wed and Friday this week before he goes back to school next week.

Jean: They have a $1 to sign up right now and $53.85 for three months than it is around $18 a month I believe. Their little cheeseburgers are very good actually. I had one for lunch with fruit and ff chips. They are small but they have a good taste. Did you definitely decide on the Enclave for a new car? If so, congratulations. Funny how much stuff we accumulate in our cars, especially the glove compartment, but my Mariner has a bitty glove compartment so you can't stuff it with junk.

Susan: Thanks for the info. I have several programs that I can calculate, it would just be nice if those manufacturers would get on board. I mean, Lean Cuisine puts WW points on their boxes. I like their food better than WW stuff. I don't count any activity or extra points and stay right at my food points so I don't go over. I did use facebook and became Tonja as a friend so I could read her newsletter and such.

Well, I made my first goal, which is nice but I hate to say it out loud. I am just going to keep plugging along and working hard and since all these meds are finally out of my system I think maybe I may get somewhere now.

You gals have a good day. I am going to do a few little chores and then probably sit and watch tv today and rest. I just don't feel like doing much else. Faye

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers! We got up to thunder, lightning, and rain . . . again. It has quit raining and the street is beginning to dry. I'm not second guessing whether the ball game, for tonight, will still be on schedule. I wanted to leave early so I could do some shopping in the mall. I need to make a quick trip to the grocery store and then will work on another cupboard . . . maybe.

"Gma" -- I hope your tummy bug disappears and you are feeling better. I HATE that queasy feeling!!!!!! The online WW price is cheaper than if you attend the meetings and pay the internet price or whatever they call it. That is $39.?? a month, I think. We are picking up the Enclave this morning as a matter of fact. I need to sort through the box and discard things that just got put in the glove box and never used. Bob is anxious to drive it to the game this afternoon to see what the mileage is. It should be about the same as the car once it is broke in; our last trip was 27 mpg, but that was mostly interestate driving at 75 mph. I don't drive that fast!

I'd better get a move on. Just remembered I need to wrap Maddy's birthday gifts and make sure I have everything. We are celebrating this weekend at the lake so hope the weather cooperates. Have a marvelous Monday!

Jean -- from Iowa!