Support Groups - Steel Magnolias # 25

GOOD EVENING MAGNOLIAS :wave:

It has been a lovely day here in the Heartland. We have been busy with garden things. Our apple tree is directly over the strawberry patch and we were looking for something to hang in the tree to keep the birds out. Nothing was to be found so I put my thinking cap on and made some long aluminum strips which I tri folded and put some gorilla tape on one end and punched a hole in it and the others I cut in strips up to the tape. We now have them hanging at different lengths in the apple tree dancing in the breeze. They have the cutest scare crows that they just sell in October. Go figure. We are determined to keep the birds and critters out of our fruit and veggies. Guess I will be building a scare crow. I wonder if Beanie has something lacking in his diet for he loves to pick up dirt clods and carry them around like a ball.

DONNA FAYE Rough night eh? I hate that when it happens. Messes up the next day. It is good you made your reservation now for the cruise to lock in the price because by the last minute things will me much higher.

JEAN Yesterday did seem like Friday around here also. I was planning what I was going to do on Saturday and it was Friday. You know I imagine that your local museum would love to have those books you have been compiling. Folks donate that sort of thing here all the time.

SUSAN Rest up on this day you haven't anything on the books to do. Not often do you have a day like this. :p

GAIL Hope all is well with you in your corner of this world. Thanks again for that dish cloth. Right now I have it across the top of my wooden stool I keep in the kitchen.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

Good Evening, Flowers! It has been a crappy, rainy, windy day in my neighborhood. I ate a mashed potato with cheese, and some apple sauce for my breakfast/lunch around 4, then Bob brought home a DQ malt when he came at 5. It slid down oh so good! :T Soft food is going to get old fast. I hope I am done packing my tooth, have no pain, and the salt water rinse routine starts tomorrow.

"Gma" -- It sounds like the cruise is a "go" with a deposit sent in. :cp: I hope Jack will remember his 60+ year old body isn't the same as the 30 year old body his mind remembers! :lol: I think I looked at the clock every hour last night. I hate nights when I don't sleep well! :mad: I ate a sandwich about 9 because I was afraid I'd be really hungry this morning and couldn't eat. I never eat that late so don't know if that was my problem or what. Try Club Soda on the carpet stain. I've heard it will take out red wine. I hope the pool schedule will work for you this summer; perhaps someone with some common sense will oversee it. For what you pay you should be able to use it whenever you want.

Maggie -- Our cat hating neighbor put a wire fence around his garden and it's about hip high I would say. This morning there was a cat inside :hyper: and I was holding my breath that they would be gone and not see it. It paced around looking for a hole when I think it could have just jumped over. It was gone when we got home from the dentist. Your innovative invention, to keep the birds away, sounds like a good one! :cheer:

Susan -- Are you quilting tonight? :twirly:

Gail -- I hope you and Wayne enjoy the long weekend together! :yes:

I'm going to watch the news and head for bed shortly. Have a great weekend and enjoy! :D

Jean -- :wave: from :brr: :rain: Iowa!

Good morning gals. As you can see, it is only around 2 am. I woke up at 1 and couldn't go back to sleep so am downstairs in the recliner with the dog this morning. I went in and balanced my checkbook, read facebook a bit and decided what the heck to come in and post early.

We now have wonderfully cold ac. He was a real gem and we are going to keep him to do our yearly spring maintenance. He fixed the fan issue, found a leak in the freon valve that was letting all our freon out (probably why the house wasn't cooling great) and charged it up. We turned it to 70 to get the house initially cooled off, but then kept turning it up and up because it got cold in the house, which we are thrilled about. It was cool for most of the morning and only got up to low 80's yesterday but will be 90 today so we shall see how it does then. We have the nice fans we bought to help it cool though so we should be in great shape no matter what.

Wes did a great job on Fortune yesterday. They had him all day. Oh I didn't tell you that the vet tech told me that Fortune has almost figured out how to open the latch on the cages at the vets. She said she stood out of sight the last time we brought him in and watched him put his paw out and work on the latch trying to keep from laughing loud enough for him to hear and see her. She says one of these days he is going to do it and they are going to find him walking around the clinic! :lol:

After the ac guy left (oh he told us he would put in a new 2 1/2 or 3 ton ac unit in the condo and with install would only charge us about 1500$ total since we have all new ductwork and such from having the new furnace put in a few years ago.) That was great news and a relief off my mind if the old one would go. Anyway, when he left so did we, went and got a bite of lunch, went and got Jack some new shoes, went to Office Max and he bought a portable laptop stand with wheels he will keep downstairs so he can be downstairs with me, a case of printer paper so we don't have to get that for awhile, then on to Toys R US which had none of the things in the store I wanted for Jackson's birthday, then to the atm to get cash (Thomas wants moola this year so I got that too) and then Jack surprised me and drove over to our big mall to Dilliards and told me to buy myself a new handbag! Woohoo! I got two actually because they were having a big sale. I got a very cute Gianni Bini bag half price and my very first Dooney and Bourke bag and it was half off as well. I basically got two for the price of one so I am going to save one for vacation I think. We then started for home and stopped at the grocery store and picked up several things to get us through until Sunday when we can go commissary shopping again. They had some great melons and raspberrys so I bought 3 boxes of berrys and a melon. Jack loves popcorn and movies on the weekend so we bought some popcorn for him and I got some reduced fat Pringles and a box of those soft pretzels. They had my favorite ww treat the raspberry and dark chocolate ice cream bars so I got some of those as well. We actually stopped for milk since we were out and came home with a haul! :lol: Welllllll, about 2 hours later I was thinking of something and ask Jack if he had put the milk away when we got home and he said no. It wasn't in the fridge so he went out and looked to see if he left it in the car, nope he had left it at the store! :lol3: So much for going to the store and getting what you went there for! He just went across the street to the Walgreens and got some milk for this morning's cereal.

Maggie: Thanks for starting a new thread. You were so cordial asking posters to come here and thanking them, I just demand them to get over to the next one in big bold letters! :lol3: Our squirrel is at it early this year as I found a big old beef bone on my back deck yesterday and got it before Fortune got it. The birds aren't as bad so far this year as usual. We usually have a splattered deck of blue from the bird poo with them eating early berrys, but nothing this year. I do hear them in the trees and it is kind of nice as there are several different kinds so their tweeting is different. I don't have a garden to keep them out of though. Do you have much trouble with wild rabbits?

Jean: It was very cool yesterday morning under 60 and didn't really warm up until lunchtime. Hope you continue with no pain with your tooth. I imagine you can eat solids again soon, but the malt sounded really good. :D
They cruise line has this cute little counter so you know how many days until you embark. I found a very nice totally remodeled Fairfield Inn only 3 miles from the cruise port in Ft Lauderdale and we can stay the night before, they will let us park our car for free while we are doing and they shuttle you to the port. You do have to get a taxi back when you get back into port, but 3 miles shouldn't be expensive at all. Oh and free breakfast too and a 15% off coupon to about 6 restaurants all in walking distance from the hotel. We are going el cheapo route when we stay on Thurs night in Valdosta GA since we are just going to sleep then leave the next morning. We found a nice Days Inn with good trip advisor reviews ( I always check my trip advisor when booking a hotel I haven't been too) that has an IHOP attached to it so we can get breakfast before we leave without driving all over town. It is also right off I-75 which is what we take to Ft Lauderdale. I made a folder to put all the cruise stuff in and I even filled out our passport forms so we can get those too. Darn the price is up to $135. When Jack got his first passport like 15 years ago it was $25!!! We decided on a full book instead of the passport card, which you can get for going into the Caribbean since we hope when he retires to have enough sick and vacation time buy back money to go to Britain, Ireland and Scotland as our last big trip hooray. I have several knitting friends that live in London and Edinburgh we could visit, which would be awesome.

Gail and Susan: Hope your weekend has started off great!

Well, I am going to sit and finish that first sock or read. I decided to do laundry and now I have to stay up since it is in the dryer. Dumb me, I know!

Have a great Saturday and do something fun this weekend. I think we are going to go today and see Pirates of the Carribean or maybe Kung Fu Panda 2 since I liked the first one so much. Faye

Good Morning, Flowers! It's cloudy but the sun is trying hard to peek through so I have my :crossed: it won't rain today. A trickle has started in the basement again; we've had a lot of rain! Now "whoever is in charge" has decided to release dam water on the Missouri River between SD and NE, before it gets to Sioux City. There will be major flooding in small NE towns along the way as well as "maybe" flooding some SD fancy dancy homes built on a golf course. :(

"Gma" -- I slept really good last night for a nice change! :) I don't know why but I have been waking up about 1, but can go right back to sleep. Sometimes my fingers or arms will go to sleep and I think that will wake me up too. I'm glad your air is working; the repairman sounds like a gem. :cp: Since Toys R Us closed in Sioux City, I have ordered quite a bit online. We stopped at the one in Sioux Falls looking for Barbie's Ken clothes and they had zippo for either her or him. :( I know you will enjoy your new handbags! You are the queen of handbags, hands down. I just switched to my summer one and it doesn't have as many outside pockets nor zippers as I would like. I may have to do some serious looking for a new one. :lol: I've forgotten a sack at the store, and it's usually WM because the checker (and myself) was oblivious. I always call and they tell me to go to customer service the next time I'm in the store. They never question what I said I didn't get and tell me to go pick the items up again. I wish they'd leave the sack alone because I could go back and get it as soon as I discovered I didn't have it.

I have laundry going and need to decide what soft food I will have for lunch. I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend! :D

Jean -- :wave: from Iowa!

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS :wave:

AH my clock just turned to 12 noon and it is 70 degrees expected to get up to 75 this day. The dogs are out back and Will is mowing the lawn and all is well. The strips I made to hang in the tree make it look like a party. We hung the at all different levels and they flutter nicely in the breeze. The fence he put around it keeps the dogs and other critters out. :p I got a catalogue that has something in it I would like to have. It is a 1 gram gold ingot neclkace for just $299.00. Yep, I would sure like to have that. It is 3/4inch long on a 18 inch gold chain. The 2 gram one is $499.00 and is 1 inch long. Maybe I should have that one. :o I will show it to Will and he will just smile at me and not say a word. Which means no. :( Oh poor me.

DONNA FAYE I really feel sorry for you that you can't get a good nights sleep. I take an SSRI (seratonin reuptake inhibitor) which is called 5HTP and is an over the counter thingie. A doc in Idaho years ago told me about it. He had one of his kids on it and it really makes a difference for me. Not habit forming, just helps your seratonin stay at a good level. He liked to perscribe over the counter meds that work instead of a perscription pill if there was something available. I was waking up 6 or more times during the night and now it just a couple at most and I sleep so much better. Sounds like your travel plans will be a go ~ since you have made such in depth plans. Wouldn't you have fun working at a travel agency.

JEAN Did you have a tooth pulled or just having it fixed? I imagine with all the products on the market a person on soft foods could find lots to eat. Since our dogs eat the baby rabbits we only still have one or two that come around. I only see one in the yard at a time. We are hoping that fence we put around the garden will keep them out also. We have some birds that avail themselves to use the bird bath but it is way across the yard away from the garden area. I never understood the mind set that allows folks to build in the path of a dam because the water will come one day. I would also never build in an old river bed. Just asking for trouble I would think. The water will come. What really bothers me is the folks that build there or on mountains that burn can't get insurance and when they have a flood or their house burns down we the people pay to have them rebuild. We pay for their foolishness. That just doesn't seem right. If you want to build there you take your chances and please don't ask the folks to bail you out. :soap:

SUSAN & GAIL A good day to you also. :wave:

Time has come to rustle up some lunch. :wave: Yack at y'all later.

Maggie -- The sun is out but the wind has picked up so it is cool. Ernie is sitting in the open window as I'm typing. Maybe Will will surprise you with a necklace "just because." ;) I've never heard of SSRI but if it works that is what counts. I had the tooth pulled because after two root canals, a crown, and a gum infection the surgeon said it is cracked and could cause more trouble later on. Mostly the fact an infection, from food particles, could eat into the jaw bone which would be major trouble. I think I can eat most anything now as long as I only chew on one side and then rinse with salt water afterwards. I haven't taken anything for pain today and really don't think I would have had to yesterday but I did as a preventative. I also used a cold pack a couple of times yesterday but haven't had any swelling so didn't switch to heat. You would be surprised at the number of people who do not believe in nor carry any insurance other than what the law says they have to, and some don't even have that. :(

Good morning to you ladies. It is going to be another sizzler today and I don't mean the steak house. :lol: It was over 90 yesterday and put the ac to the test. We know now we are definitely going to have to replace this old unit with a new one down the road at some point because when the temperature went up, so did the temp in the house even though we had the ac set at 70. For now, we will just use fans in the house to keep the cool air circulating.

Today is the oh so fun commissary day. I hope they have everything. I like to buy those little 1 lb chub packs of gr sirloin and they didn't have any so had to buy the stuff in the styrofoam and come home and weigh and measure it. I also hope they start carrying summer fruits as they have been a little short on them. I was at Super Target the other day and wanted to get some stuff and their whole case was being repaired and they had nada. Luckily, I found fruit at Krogers. So we shall see. I am hoping we can zip in and zip out.

I just have a few more rows and you can see my new sock creation. I think I am going to give it up and just order another skein for the scarf as I haven't been able to find it in town. The shipping will cost me more than the yarn will.

Your ole feisty friend just told somebody off on Facebook. I belong to a page that is my old high school. Classmates and such have been discussing all kinds of memories and stuff and they had a discussion about a classmate of my brother's who recently passed. Now like I have said before, my hometown had 1600 people in it and was a real Mayberry. I graduated with a class of 67. I made a statement about how I had seen in the local paper that someone had been murdered in it and a couple stated about the murder of a friend's son and I said no that wasn't what I was talking about that I would never discuss that as she was a friend of mine, but this was someone from the low income housing they had built several years ago. One of the guys that went to school with my brother found the link and ask if it was the one and I said yes and this other guy got all huffy and demanded I delete the thread and he insulted the guy that put the link up. So, I just got on there and told them they were being children that most of us were AARP age for heaven's sake, I would not delete the thread that if he didn't like it to ignore it and a couple other things about him putting his head in the sand basically. It just irked me because I had just made the point that our town was not like the town we grew up in that even it had changed and there you go. Sheesh you would have thought I shot the president or something. I looked at his personal page and he is at least 10 years younger than I am so I figured he was the "whippersnapper" and I was the sage adult! :lol:

Maggie: I think I have said before that I had a dr say that Benadryl was a safe and effective sleep aid with no side effects if used long term and so when I really have trouble sleeping that is what I use. It is just still a matter of getting Fortune back into a routine, which he isn't just yet and I being older and it is what I get. I know yesterday I felt my age and about 40 years besides as my bones were aching all over the place. My knees hurt, my "knitting" shoulder hurt, my hands hurt. I finally ended up taking some anti inflammatory and it let up so I could sleep last night. I think being a travel consultant would be a really fun job. I have lots of fun planning our vacations, finding just the right hotels at the right prices, figuring out what we want to do and such. Jack told me last night he is now excited about it since we put the deposit down. We have never been on a cruise before and it was the one thing when we married we vowed one day we would do. We never had close to enough money to do it early on and about 16 years ago put a deposit down to go on one and Jack lost his job about 2 weeks later so we had to cancel it. We are now at a point we can afford it, even if that means Jack had to work a bazillion hours of overtime to do it :D and the remainder will be paid by our tax refund. Have fun dreaming about your necklace. I used to wear a lot more jewelry than I do now. I just don't take the time to put the stuff on anymore.

Jean: I know I do love handbags. Isn't this one cute? It is one of the ones I bought the other day. The cool thing is, though it looks like canvas, it isn't and can be wiped clean, which is nice. My other one is leather and has to be kept in a bag to protect it. This is the fun one! :lol: I have a knitting friend who lives in ND and she and her family are experiencing the flooding big time. She works for Eddie Bauer at the mall and she said they expect the mall to flood so she may be out of work for awhile. What are you and Bob going to do the rest of the holiday weekend? I want to go see Pirates of the Caribbean, but don't know if I can convince Jack. If we go, it will be interesting to see if he and I can avoid the snack bar! We have not had any desserts for over a month now and have not had any junk food and fast food either so we shall see.

You gals have a great day. I have to get hoppin' and get my dishes put away out of the dishwasher and reload it and get cleaned up and dressed to head out in awhile. Faye

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS :wave:

It is a warm beautiful day here in the Hearland. Not many at church today for most are traveling out of town this holiday weekend. But when two are three are gathered . . . There were more but three but that always comes to town when the numbers are diminished. We went out for Chinese today and I am just having a smoothie for dinner. Went by and bought Beanie a new collar but I want Will to make both dogs nice leather ones. He can do that. Hallelujah they both get hair cuts and baths on Tuesday. Oh Beanie must think I am lonely in here by myself or something for he just entered banging his milk jug around. He loves that thing. He was excited when he saw me washing it out weeks ago and so I gave it to him and he has played with it off and on since then. He has one side of it all creased nice so he can grap hold of it easy. Will wants me to make some cinnamon rolls and I was looking at recipes and I have them from 5 P+ up to 9 P+ so I guess you know which ones I will be making. Interesting the big points ones were in Betty Crocker cookbook, Cooking Light and Better Homes had them for 5 and Better Homes for 7. Couldn't find a WW recipe for them in my dessert book. I have yet to look on line for one.

DONNA FAYE Good that you have something you can take to sleep. Usually each person is different and what works for one will not work for another. Like perfume. Facebook etc are not for me. I don't go to any of those pages for I don't have any interest there. I left school far behind and it can stay there.:p I was popular, got good grades and had a ton of friends but that was in those times. The good old times. My career led me in a different direction than most and that is a fact.;) But it is a good place for folks who want to to gather and yack about old times or current times or any times. Take a picture of your other bag and let us see it also. I only have the one Dooney Bourke all weather leather coach bag that I have had for all these years and it still looks new. I don't know if they even make this same bag anymore. A friend bought a knock off like it and it fell apart in a couple months. Most times I don't even carry a purse anymore. :cool: Hope you found all you went for at the commissary.

JEAN Yep infected teeth can cause severe health problems. Good that you got that one taken out in time. We stopped by Orcelans to get Beanie a new coller and picked up another neet sounding wind chime. This one has a road runner on the top with a long bendey neck that moves in the wind. It has different sized bamboo on it so it makes a higher pitched sound which blends great with the other one. These are last years models so we are getting them for 20 bucks off.

Well we are off to pay for some gas for a fellow. Will is "on call" this week so he has gotten several calls already. I am going with him and we will continue out for a nice drive out to our favorite nursery in the country.

Type at y'all later. :wave:

Good afternoon, ladies. A lovely 90 degree day.

I am at the beach - Nags Head to be exact. My friend's aunt called her and said the family wasn't going to be using their beach house this weekend if she wanted to use it on short notice. We grabbed a few clothes, a lot of quilting and took off.

I'll post more Tuesday because I'm on a laptop that doesn't belong to me right now.

Have a great holiday!

BACK AT YA :wave:

Well we went out and bought $40 worth of gas for a couple that is moving from MT to ALA in a huge U-Haul hauling a pickup with stuff packed to the top with chicken wire sides. They didn't plan on gas costing so much to get to where they are going. They must not be tuned in to the news that is telling the cost of gas. Anyway we gave them as much as we are allowed. They will get far enough to another town big enough to have a program like this town has and get some more gas and then to another town to get more etc. and do that all the way to Ala where they are origionally from. They said they went to MT to be mountain folks but they couldn't take the winters so back home they want to be.

SUSAN Will you be swimming in the ocean while you are there? What a neat oportunity to have a mini vacation at the beach.

Gotta get ready for evening services. Type at y'all later. :wave:

Here is the sock for my friend's birthday. The solid color is called Cyan and the pattern is Loch Ness. :D I tried a new heel this time and it gives it more strength in wearing.

Good Evening, Flowers! It's been another crappy weather day in my corner of the world today. We went to church in Sioux City and then out for breakfast/lunch with Beth and her family. I had a top to return to Penneys and then headed to SAMs Club for some cabin supplies. We used to call it the $100 store but now it's the $200+ store every time we go. Like one lady was telling her husband not everything is cheaper there.

"Gma" -- I hope you were able to get everything you wanted at the commissary today. I hate having to stop at more than one store when I can't get it at the first place. I rarely visit FB. :no: So far none of my high school classmates are there, or at least none that I have looked for. The gal we go to Maui with takes Benedryl the first night we are there, to help her sleep. She's a nurse so I figure I could try that if I needed to. Is your new purse open at the top or does it have a zipper? I like the style! I love the colors in the sock -- beautiful! :cp:

Maggie -- Chinese sounds so good right now but rice was another thing not to eat mentioned by the nurse. Maybe next week. I can almost smell your cinnamon rolls clear over here. :T I can't imagine trying to move from MT to AL and not having enough money for food, gas, and lodging along the way. :no: I guess people down on their luck assume someone will take care of their needs along the way. It was good that Will could help with gas money.

Susan -- 90 degrees sounds heavenly tonight! :D I'm sitting here in a long sleeved turtle neck and a sweatshirt with the furnace running off and on. An unexpected weekend at the beach would be so much fun! :dance:

I have a load of towels to fold and then the Sunday paper is waiting. Hope you all enjoy your evening and remember the reason for Memorial Day tomorrow. :D

Jean -- :wave: from Iowa!

Good morning ladies. Jack is still snoozing this morning I imagine or he may be in his office at this juncture I have been up awhile. I bought 3 half gallons of ammonia yesterday to clean the grill plates and the broiler plate for the stove and the trash bags we have even though name brand don't hold liquid and all the stuff eventually just seeped out and evaporated in this heat. I hope it stayed in long enough to loosen the gunk so we can give them a good cleaning. We plan on grilling out tonight.

Today is weigh in and I am down 2 lbs for the week. It is probably about 2 more as the heat and humidity has my feet swollen pretty badly at the moment so i am really retaining water.

We got what we needed at the commissary. Jack is hilarious. I give myself a $300 food budget for every two weeks not counting odds and ends we might have to get between like more bread or soda or whatever. We go to the commissary and every time he predicts how long it will take us to shop and the bill. He says we always take an hour to shop and checkout but he isn't as good at guessing the bill. Yesterday it was $260.00 and we were in the store 65 minutes (he times it!) :lol:

Susan: Hope you are having a grand time in North Carolina at the beach. Get some sun and sand and quilting done. Have fun!

Maggie: I will take a picture the next time I am able of the other bag. I took it upstairs already. I won't make cinnamon rolls as jack and I wouldn't stop at one I am afraid. The only sweets I have in the house at the moment are a variety of WW ice cream treats and slimfast snack bars, which are two pts apiece. They have one variety that is like eating a butterfingers and is great is the urge for chocolate hits you. Jack is a sweetaholic and I can be so it is best I just keep away from the stuff I guess. More than likely that couple plain set out from home knowing they didn't have the money and expected charity from churches along the way. I has seen that here a lot and people are always walking up to us at the grocery store and such wanting money for gas as there is a gas station in front of our Krogers. We rarely carry cash and though if Jack thinks they are on the up and up will put gas in their cars for them, we never give them money. We have a lot of panhandlers, I mean a lot of them here. You can tell the desperate from the bums from their "slip up" with regards to clothing. They dress all raggedy then have expensive running shoes on. Again, I just don't give people money because most of them are scammers and make thousands of dollars pan handling. When you tell them you will take them to like McDonalds and buy them a meal, they walk away from you.

Jean: As you say, we have "crappy" weather here, but ours is scorching hot and is going to stay that way. Like I said it will warm up the pool. Kelly asked me yesterday if I was going to start coming over there as they opened their pool yesterday and she said to come anytime. I told her I doubt I get over there much this summer since we are down to one car. I am not going to keep the car everyday to go swimming even though I love to go and swim with Thomas in the summer. It just costs too much in gas. Our gas is wayyyyyy down to $2.41 at the moment, which amazes me considering it is a holiday weekend. I love that blue in the sock and may find another color to go with it and make more socks with it,

Well, Jack is downstairs and we have things we want to get done today. We need to go to Lowes and get another trash can with a lid, spray paint to put our condo address on it and a new garden hose. We also have to stop at the auto parts store and see if they carry the little, for lack of better words, pin set that goes on your seat belt to keep the latch from sliding all the way down. One of ours came off on the driver's side and the darn thing ends up practically under the seat when it slides down.

Have a wonderfal day today! Faye

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS :wave:

It is 84 degrees and windy here in the Heartland so it looks like I will be grilling inside this holiday day. I am doing steaks, bakers and corn on the cob along with a nice green salad. I am up a pound on this weigh day but am not tripping on it for I know how my system works by now and it doesn't do what "I think" it should. After I finish here we are going for a nice ride out in the country. We have been taking roads that we have not traveled before and having a great time of it. The dogs go with us and enjoy it also. Remember the troups this day for they work so hard to keep our freedom for us.

DONNA FAYE Our blue trash cans and service are city owned. There are brown ones that are for commercial buildings that have a private pick up service. But all you see down the alley are blue ones and here at the end where the church is on the corner are a couple of brown ones in the alley. But it is nice that the companies furnish the trash cans. Sure makes the alley look neat with them all lined up outside the fences of the back yards along the alley. Folks keep the grass mowed that grows outside their fences and it all just looks neat and clean. You certainly have low gas prices since the national average is $3.80 something. It is $3.79 here. I do so remember that humidity in TN how opressing it can get. Keeps me not wanting to move back there. :o Humidity is bad for my joints which are doing fine now ~ haven't had to use my new knee brace since it came. Wouldn't you know it. I will be glad I have it though when it does get some swelling in it again.

JEAN That is nice that you had fun with Beth and her family. Yep you have to watch those prices at Sams like everywhere else. Some things are higher and folks just tend to pay that price to avoid having to go elsewhere and there is where that "got-ya." Something Will bought for the garden cost more for the 1# bag than it did for the 10# bag. Smaller was more spendy. Guess some folks just wanted one pound so they stuck it to them. Of course, Will bought the 10# bag. :cool:

SUSAN & GAIL Hope the two of you are having a wonderful day this day of memory.

Type at y'all later. We are off to enjoy the country. :wave: Type at y'all later.

Good Afternoon, Flowers! It's hot and humid, with 45 mph+ wind. I finally gave up and turned the air on. We've had trouble with the Sioux City tv stations cutting off the heads and printing at the bottom of the screen. Bob spent a good hour on the phone with a tech; it boils down to their HD broadcast is now on upper level channels blah, blah, blah. I'm glad he called them and not me! I've got laundry going and need to make a path in the hall upstairs. Our attic fan quit so Bob decided today was the day to check it out. He has to get to it by going up in the spare (junk) bedroom closet so all that stuff is sitting in the hall now. Now is a good time to sort through what I no longer need from that closet! :yes:

"Gma" -- :congrat: on losing 2#s this week! The scale is going in the right direction for you. Bob likes to guess what our SAMs bill will be each time we go there. It doesn't take long to add up that's for sure. I have tried the amonia and trash bag combination for the oven grates w/o having the bags leak. I don't remember how much amonia I used. Your gas is REALLY low! Our's was $3.64 yesterday when we got home from Sioux City. It was $3.72 over there.

Maggie -- You will have the pesky pound gone by next week. :yes: I usually buy a larger size of anything if it something I use on a regular basis. But if I only need a small amount, and it will spoil before I use it all, I buy the smaller size. Enjoy your ride in the country this afternoon!

I need to change laundry loads so better keep moving. I'd really like to sit down and read for awhile -- maybe later. Enjoy the rest of your day. :D

Jean -- :wave: from Iowa!

It's me! :comp: I swear to y'all I have come in here with the good intentions of posting but then the phone rings, or there is a list of errands that seem endless so when I return I'm just plain ol' tired. Since my absence I've been to Va. Beach and I'll be going again soon. Grandkids have been over. We had a cookout yesterday because Wayne had to work today...and it seems he's working a little overtime because he usually calls me on his way home and he has not. Life has been good. Here's the update on the Dads...and myself:

My Dad: He's getting frailer. I feel like I could literally hug him to death. His arthritis hurts him. The tremors from his Parkinson's is getting a little worse. His feet tremor now and he's not so sure on his feet. I'm so grateful for my brother living next door.

Marvin, my father-in-law: He looked great! He's got a bad case of cabin fever. Tomorrow he goes to see the surgeon about his leg. A good family friend is taking him. I am grateful for her also.

Me: Well. I thought I was out of the woods since I had not heard from my family doctor. He phoned me late Friday afternoon--he had just received the results from the heart monitor I had to wear. I felt nothing while wearing it and I was supposed to write down episodes when they happened--what I was doing and the time of day. Nothing. I felt nothing. Well...the monitor says otherwise. I have a slow heart beat and then I have bursts of rapid heart beat. Needless to say more testing is in my future. I go back to the doctor next week.

Yesterday, we had our Memorial Day cookout since Wayne worked today. It was fun. Loud. But fun. I love my kids and grandkids. Yeah...I tolerate my sons-in-law. Kidding. Not true! I care for them also! ;)

I know y'all have been doing stuff and I need to read. *sigh* I need to catch up but I wanted to post before y'all think I went and left y'all again!

I'll be back.

Good morning all. We are in a cooker here. It only got to about 80 degrees last night and the house is still hot. The ac just cannot keep up with this heat and with having a 2 story it doesn't help. We are going to have to consider a bigger unit being put in I guess, but we are going to have to deal with it as it for now hot or not. We are supposed to be near 100 degrees by the end of the week.

We cleaned the grill plates which was a mess and I will finish the broiler pan today along with getting floors mopped downstairs, putting away laundry and stuff like that. It is too hot to do much else. I don't think a major amount of housecleaning is going to get done for awhile if the house is hot. Ahh well, it will be there when it gets a bit cooler and will get done when it gets done I guess.

We had a nice quiet Memorial Day. Jack grilled a couple steaks with baked potatoes and I too a bit of olive oil, garlic and some of that powdered parmesan cheese and marinated some asparagus in it then he grilled it. It was quite delicious actually and I am not a big asparagus fan. Nothing like steaks on the grill either and he did a great job so we had a nice lunch.

I will put the other sock on needles today and get it done. I am hoping by the end of the week that my yarn will be here to finish the scarf so that is done and I can wash and block everything. Lots of projects to finish by the end of the year for gifts as usual. I don't know how people who sell their stuff ever get enough done to sell :lol:

Gail: I am sorry your dad is not doing well. Can he not apply to get a scooter through medicare so he is a bit more mobile if he is having trouble walking and what about you fil can't he get one too? Sorry Wayne had to work the holiday. Don't panic too much about the heart thing yet. If you are a big caffeine drinker it can cause your symptoms and would certainly register on your monitor. I always say don't look for trouble just meet it as it comes. Prayers going out to you about it that it doesn't cause you more stress than you already have.

Maggie: Fortune has one and only one think he plays with. I kept this basket of dog toys for years and just a couple months ago threw them all out because he never played with them. He has this fleece elephant I bought at Petsmart when we got him from the breeders. It is the only thing he plays with or loves on. We call it "baby" and he will walk around the house looking for his baby. I have had to replace it numerous times because he will chew on the trunk, etc. I had to start cutting off the tail and other stuff because he would chew on the yarn and barf. I bet Beanie is a real character he sounds like it anyway. When I picked Fortune up from the vet a lady was picking up her ShihTzu who was just gorgeous, a cream and tan color combo. The dog had gotten a thorn between it's paw and it worked its way completely into the dog's foot. He was it this little green cast on one foot and I told the dog he could have all his doggy friends put their paw prints on his cast (of course all his dog friend's would have to be Chihuahua's for a print to fit! :lol: )

Jean: We quit going to Sam's several years ago. Seems like we don't need giant economy sized stuff and their prices are not competitive enough to pay the fee imo. Hope Bob was able to fix your fan. I am not happy about the ac and will talk to Jack about whether he thinks we ought to get Jimmy back out here, but we can't afford another big ac bill right now. We shall see. The unit is working perfectly as far as running it just isn't putting out cool air and he completely filled it with freon when he was here.

Well gals, Jack is up and getting ready for work so I should get out of here. Have a good start to the week (sort of.) Faye

Good morning everyone! Happy Tuesday. It's supposed to reach 90 here and its already humid. Needless to say the ac is on and will probably remain on until the end of September. I'm so thankful that we were able to install a new ac/heating system in the house a few months ago. I can tell the difference between the old and the new system.

Donna Faye, I agree with you about my heart--I'm just taking it as it comes and I've got an appointment set with my doctor. If he thought it was a huge issue he would have had me reset an appointment to see him this week. My appointment is on the 9th. I have approached my Dad with the possibility of a scooter. He says absolutely not. My brother has tried talking to him about it. He's adamant. Its not a money issue. Dad is frustrating. Now my father-in-law, Marvin--he will be fine once his leg mends 100% although he will have to be careful. He sees his surgeon today so I'm looking forward to finding out how that went tonight when Wayne phones him. I'll see both men this weekend. And again, I agree with you, people who sell their knitted goods how do they ever knit enough to sell?! I'm an extremely slow knitter. (I know I need to start posting pictures of my projects like you do.) Right now, on the needles are: a lace scarf in Miss Babs heathered green (fingering weight); two pairs of socks in the works (one pair in KnitPicks Imagination "Lost Boys" colorway and the other one in some expensive yarn I bought 3 or 4 years ago that I can't remember who is the maker or colorway but is a pretty varigated colorway in burgundies to pinks), and a dish cloth (of course). I have to go to the bank this morning so I think I'll make a pit stop at my local yarn shop just "to see" if they have anything that catches my eye. ;) ...just what I need...more yarn! :o

....later...today I'll peek back inside to see if anyone came in to visit...

Good Morning, Flowers! The sun is shining, a lot less wind blowing than yesterday, and much cooler w/o the humidity. I've been to church and balanced, then stopped at the grocery store which was slim pickin's for anything fresh since they are closed on Sundays and holidays. My plan, for this afternoon, is to try on some forgotten clothes and either give them away or make myself wear them.

Gail -- I'm sorry to hear about your dad. It's so hard to watch a loved one go downhill. It sounds like he still has some spunk left though. ;) Marvin sounds like a real go-getter! It will be interesting to find out what your doctor has to say about the heart monitor results. It was nice your family could all be together on Sunday. It sure is quiet when they go home if your house is like mine. :lol:

"Gma" -- We had a quiet Memorial Day also. I'm really good at putzing time away when there is nothing on the calendar that I need to attend to. I keep Ernie's toys in the lid of a paper box; he has a scratching box right beside it as well as a ball toy in a plastic circle and scratching center. If anyone touches his toy box, and he hears the toys move, he comes flying out from wherever he is to make sure everything is still there. :lol: He's like a little kid. Bob said the roof fan motor is shot; he didn't think it worked last summer but never checked assuming we just didn't notice it running. We can tell a difference in the bedrooms when it does run on hot days. So he is going to see if he can get a new motor rather than a whole new fan which would mean going up the roof and starting from scratch. Perhaps your air conditioner is leaking freon too fast for it to do any good in cooling down your entire place. That is what happened to our old one, and I know they don't use freon any more.

I need to get the leftovers out for lunch, then get busy on my chore list. Enjoy your day! :D

Jean -- :wave: from Iowa!

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS :wave:

It is goona be a warm one here in the Heartland. It is in the 70's as I type and expected to be in the high 80's before this day is over. The wind blew yesterday like gang busters. We had to take down our two new bamboo what-ya-callets yesterday so they wouldn't get all beat up. AKA:wind chimes.:p They sure make a nice sound when the breeze is blowing but not in the gale type winds. The dogs are at the groomer today and they sure needed it. They had to go three weeks without baths and haircuts since their groomer was out of town. They really need to go every two weeks. I was not too happy with the neighbor boy this morning. He came knocking at the front door at 6:30 am and wanted to use Wills phone to call his mother who ws at work. He locked up the house and went out to get on his bike to go to the college where they were picking up the kids for camp. Someone had stolen his bike during the night. Not that we minded helping him out but the dogs got all happy to see him and none of us could get back to sleep after we helped him out. Probably those same guys that the mother had chased off came back. I'm just guessing. I bet he will take his new one, when he gets one, inside the house at night. That is horrible to steel a kids bike. Or wheelchair. There have been a rash of wheelchairs being stolen for the metal but not in this town. I ended up doing the steaks yesterday inside since it was so windy. The meal was delicious and the dogs loved my left-overs.:p

DONNA FAYE You may just have to spring for a bigger air conditioner next year. Those are spendy things aren't they. But we have to have air. What did they do in the olden days without air. No wonder they had their kitchens separate from the main house so as not to heat the house up.

GAIL It is good you are keeping a watch on the old folks. That is about all you can do for they are so independent. One day your dad will want a scooter when he absolutely can't get around on his own with any ease. The time will come and he will think it was his idea. Waynes dad is a corker. Reminds me of that pink rabbit ~ never stops. You have a good attitude with what ever it is that is going on with your heart rate. They can adjust those things nowdays.

JEAN I can just see you now trying on clothes and sorting them. I did that years back when we downsized and know what a chore it really is. Right now I don't have anything that doesn't fit and I don't wear. It is a process that changes with the amount of storage space one has. Hopefully you can get your air fixed easily enough. Gotta have air. Mine is on now and the ceiling fans are whirring. Turn used to put his own toys in his basket I gave him for them. He would play with whatever then put it up and get something else. What a cat. Yep, cats are very possessive of "their" stuff. Ragg Mopp and Beanie don't care ~ they have their toys strewn all over the place. They sure want to play with whatever it is that I have picked up in my pick up stick when I am gathering them all up. What ever one I have they want.

SUSAN Back now from your stay at the cabin? I imagine you had a wonderful time being there.

I'm just about done with running errands today. I need to go to the cleaners and pick up Wayne's khakis (he likes them dry cleaned) but can't get until 3pm when they're scheduled to be ready. Y'all are not going to believe this but Wayne has a job interview tomorrow at 5pm! The first time the man phoned (about 4 weeks ago) Wayne told him no thank you; he had accepted a job but last week the man called him again wondering if he was happy where he's at!?! We figured...well, why not! One never knows these days. Crazy. (Also Wayne heard that the company he's with now is in Chapter 11.)

Jean, my Dad's spunk has got up and left town. Dad made the comment last week anyone at age 70 should be shot. (Can we say...depression?) I responded and told him I plan on living past 70 (and no, I didn't tell him about my heart). And yep, I've spoken with him about his depression and he swears he told his doctor. (Frankly, I don't believe him. My brother takes him to the doctor but Dad won't allow him to go inside the examining room....oh, don't get me started!) All my father-in-law (Marvin) is concerned with is getting back onto the dance floor. Yes, I am very grateful my father-in-law is not sitting around waiting to die like my Dad. I can write a book! Mom told me before she passed that I was going to have a problem with Daddy. And she apologized to me!!! And yeah, during fit of frustration with my Dad (back when Mom was in the hospital I told him...and no, it didn't faze him a bit). You've got that right--my house "rocks and rolls" when everyone is here and when they all leave...Wayne and I just take a bit...and one of us will say to the other "Do you hear that? Silence."

Maggie, you know stealin' a kid's bike is just plain awful. And I can't see how anyone can sleep at night stealing someone's wheel chair! That always makes the news here in my area--wheel chair theft. Now...watching out for the old folks...one is easy to keep track of but the other one...wow...we never know what he's up to...and I bet you can guess which one each is! I don't know what it is about Dad and a scooter! I told him if I ever need one I want a bright red sparkly one with a license plate on the front that says "Get outta my way!" and on the back I want a license plate that reads "Sorry...I knocked you down!" I've told Dad life is what you make it. Quite frankly, he hates living and can't wait to die. He's told me so. I tell him God is not through with him yet. He says he talks to God all the time and He knows he's ready to go. Does this get to me? Yes. I've told Lee that I want to know when our Dad's next doctor's visit; I want to go!

I'm really in good spirits. I know y'all can't tell by my posts...but I really am. I am a happy person! :D I just wish my Dad could find joy in something.

Maggie -- The temperature is hanging right at 70, but the humidity is going down, and the wind is picking up. Crazy weather all around these days. :rolleyes: That is too bad about the neighbor boy's bike being stolen. I imagine it was taken by the same kids who were hanging around and chased off before. We have reports of stolen bikes in the paper all the time. Even though it is an imposition, it's nice that he feels comfortable coming to your house for help. I can't imagine anyone low enough to steal a wheelchair. :no:

Gail -- Maybe the job interview will lead Wayne to a better job than the one he has now. He is wise to check it out. :yes: A lot of overtime hours would get old quick imo. I just figured since your dad wouldn't consider a scooter he had enough spunk left to fight it. It's too bad when a person just gives up and wants to die; there's not much one can do to change that mind set. I feel for you; dealing with elderly parents is like having a 2 year old all over again! :hug:

GOOD EVENING MAGNOLIAS :wave:

Just got back from getting a hair cut. Finally got all the red cut off and am going to color it what must of my hair is ~ light brown. Coloring it gives it more body and makes it look like I have more hair than I do.:p The coctail of meds I have taken for years have done a number on my hair so I have to do what I can to make it look like more than I have short of wearing a wig.;) Our hair dresser got a new dog, baby pomeranean. Cutest little ball of black fuzz. Just brought it back from CO. Anyway I got to hold it and play with it while Will got his hair done and he did the same when I had mine done. It is just so cute. Bouncy little black ball of fuzz.

JEAN It is 6 pm and 80 as I type. Just a bit breezy and beautiful day. I wonder what the story is next door for the dog catcher is over there. Their dogs get out of their back yard on occasion and maybe he brought one home or picked one up. Who knows. They have big outside german shephard type dogs. Those kids could have stollen the bike out of the garage for it is outside the fence. There is a tall wooden fence along the other side of the garage that runs up to the house. The garage and the part of the house with the back door are on this side of the tall fence and there is a short chainlink fence that runs along their drive up to the corner of our house. It is probably our fence since it continues from our back yard.:p Anyway if their garage was open those boys could have availed themselves to that bike.

GAIL I think it is a grand idea that you get to have a talk with your dads doctor. Do what you can for the situation. Is there anyplace that your dad would be interesting in doing some volunteer work? There are several places around here that let seniors volunteer and they are a great help. Will works with some at the museum and loves picking their brains. Just a thought for it would make him feel worthwhile and wanted with a shcedule. I realize you can't make him do anything but a few suggestions to peek the interest... ;)

Time has come for me to go make dinner. :wave: Type at y'all later.

All y'all have a lovely evening. :wave:

Good evening, ladies! A hot day, but at least it's not humid.

I had a wonderful weekend at the beach. The water wasn't warm enough for swimming, for me anyway but we walked on the beach and sat under the umbrella and worked on our quilting until we got hot, then we went in and cooled off.

I finally decided to turn my AC on when I got home - and it promptly died. The AC man will be here tomorrow between 3 and 5. It's not too bad since I have all the ceiling fans going and it gets in the low 70s at night so I opened the windows last night. I just know it's going to have to be replaced. It's old.

Gail, I'm so sorry your dad is so stubborn. Could you call the doctor and alert him to your dad's depression? I have it and the medication has made a huge difference. I'll keep you in my prayers regarding your heart problem and Wayne's job prospect.

Faye, get the AC replaced before it dies! I don't mind the heat nearly as much as you and Jack.

Jean, I'm not for keeping clothes that are too big and now I'm finding that those that were too small, even the pants, are out of style and I won't wear them so they have gone to the Disabled American Veterans Thrift Shop where someone else may buy them. Even my underwear has gotten too big so I just bought all new. Bras are taking a little longer to get replaced because they are so expensive.

Maggie, my grandma used to say of some people that "they would steal the pennies off a dead man's eyes." Poor kid, losing his bike. Anyone caught stealing a wheelchair should be shot on the spot.

Have a great evening - maybe I'll lose a few pounds with the heat!

Maggie -- Bob's secretary has two pomeranians; they have such cute little faces. One is pretty laid back but the younger one has enough bouncy energy for both. :lol: My hairdresser had a cat who liked to visit in her shop; he would try to lie underneath the dryer hood but he was so big he would fall off as soon as he got settled in. It's a cool 64 degrees right now and the wind has finally given up. The weatherman says high 8os and low 90s for the next few days.

Susan -- I'm so glad you enjoyed your weekend at the beach, even if the water was too cold for swimming. I hope your air conditioner can be replaced in short order and/or the weather stays cooler for you. :yes: I need to buy some new bras and just hate to even start looking. There used to be an "older" woman in that department, in a Sioux City store, but I haven't seen her the last few times I've been in there. I'd like "help" and don't think the younger gals would have a clue. :dunno:

Beth called on her way home from work tonight. She travels the interstate along the Missouri River which is being flooded by letting dams release excess water further up the river. They will start on Thursday, add more on Friday, and the most will come on Saturday and the days following. Huge fancy homes are being evacuated and the people are advised to remove everything. The prediction is the river will be over flood stage for at least 2 months. The river isn't that far from downtown and there is talk of even closing the interstate itself. The area where she works is having the electricity shut off on Thursday, but she isn't sure if that will affect her business since it is on the opposite side of the interstate. There is a constant plea for help sandbagging and big machines are trying to build dirt levees. I just wonder what will happen down south when the Missouri water hits the Mississippi. I don't think it will be pretty.

I'm heading for the news and then bed. See you tomorrow!

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