This week will have an eating challenge as we use a Groupon for a three course meal at an Italian Restaurant. I survive well at restaurants by the old entree-only trick; once I add an appetizer and dessert it's hard to eat like a maintainer.
Perhaps our city will tire of Stanley Cup fever after a zillion people lined the streets for a parade on Saturday. All roads leadilng into Boston were jammed and Boston was packed with yellow jersey'd folks cheering. It even extended into 4 duck boats of Bruins bringing the Cup into Fenway Park for the Red Sox game on Sunday, with hockey music played for each run. We do well milking a good thing.
Bill I too have purchased several Groupon deals. What a great idea! And your Stanley Cup fever sounds very positive (although a bit of an inconvenience), in direct contrast to all those "sore losers" in Vancouver.
I am feeling really weird this morning. Queasy, headache, and upset stomach. Didn't eat anything unusual yesterday so I wish I could take a day off work but that's just not an option for me.
Maybe it's from the imminent car purchase. I am starting step 2 of the negotiation tomorrow. Wouldn't it be nice if I could go in, tell them the car I want, test drive that model (rather than one that's several thousand dollars more), get a straight answer re price, and buy the car? I did that with my last car salesperson - a woman. Yes I'm being sexist here but it was so much easier to deal with her.
The guy I've got as a salesperson is seriously underestimating my intelligence and experience and I need to make this work in my favour somehow.
Anyone got any ideas?
Better pull myself together and get out there walking the dogs. Good day all!
I've never done the Groupon thing, but have seen some really good deals. Recently our valley celebrated Restaurant Week. Several dozen top restaurants participated (it's a yearly thing here). They offer a prix fix menu of either $24 or $36 and have choices of 3 or 4 appetizers, entrees and desserts. Since we were dieting, we didn't go. But it was fun reading the menus. There was one Italian place that had a dish that was like gnocchi but made from ricotta cheese and spinach. It sounded heavenly.
So I managed to broil lobster tails for dinner last night. I was not impressed. They were a lot easier than I had made my mind up about but I think restaurants do them better.
DH is almost at his goal of losing 15 pounds. I'm still stuck at 12.5 with another 12.5 to go. Wish me luck!
I bought too much produce yesterday at this little market I've discovered in my old neighborhood. Consequently I'm afraid each time I open my fridge that a cantaloupe is going to roll out & hit my foot like an errant bowling ball. And I've got an unusual number of papayas. Anyone got any recipes?
This morning I heard Adele THREE TIMES while driving to the office in Connecticut. So I've got this Phil Spectorish Wall of Sound hollow echo in my head & I keep hearing her singing:
We could have had it a-a-a-all
Rolling through the dee--ee-eep
You had my heart and soul in your hand
But you played it, yeah, you played it to the beat.
I think I'm gonna have to download this aggrieved female plaint from Napster or iTunes today. (I think I have enough Coke codes to get it free from Napster.)
Why do I like these types of songs so much? Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and Florence & the Machine doing "Dog Days." Anything that sounds like an alt chick channeling Ronnie Spector. I'm not sure if it's nostalgia for my Mad Men era childhood or what.
I saw the Woody Allen movie on Saturday afternoon so now I'm mistrustful of nostalgia.
Probably going to Woody Allen movies is also an act of nostalgia. I go to them because I remember better, earlier Woody Allen movies. Though this one actually was quite decent, even if a little too centered on Rich Peoples' Problems.
Oh, my, do I ever love Adele! I downloaded both albums when the 2nd one came out and I listened to them over and over--like I used to do as a teenager when I got a new record! Since I have more than one iPod, I listened to it in the car, in the office and at home on my laptop. I think my son was getting kind of tired of her!
Angie and I use groupons all the time for places we actually go to for dinner.
In the past few weeks we have used a $25 one we bought 5 of, good through December, for a pizza place we love.....$125 worth of food for $60!
We also bought 2, off each computer we have, for a neighborhood bar and grill we go to...$40 worth for $20 and also 2 for $24 for $40 worth at a Guam cusine place we visit every couple of months.
Angie bought 6 yoga/hiking ones for my daughter and her, after the first one the plave had to cancel because of an insurance issue with the park they did it at....anyway, she got her $$$ back and credit to their studio for future events.
DAGMAR ~Angie is looking to buy a new car. She went and looked...got her best deal..(didn't buy...still deciding between 2 cars) then came home and googled www.truecar.com she put in her info and came up with much better prices. It gives you the invoice price/prices for those sold in your area, etc. Not sure if they have it in canada or your area but check it out. You can PM me if you have any questions and I will have Angie get back to you.
Bill I too have purchased several Groupon deals. What a great idea! And your Stanley Cup fever sounds very positive (although a bit of an inconvenience), in direct contrast to all those "sore losers" in Vancouver.
I am feeling really weird this morning. Queasy, headache, and upset stomach. Didn't eat anything unusual yesterday so I wish I could take a day off work but that's just not an option for me.
Maybe it's from the imminent car purchase. I am starting step 2 of the negotiation tomorrow. Wouldn't it be nice if I could go in, tell them the car I want, test drive that model (rather than one that's several thousand dollars more), get a straight answer re price, and buy the car? I did that with my last car salesperson - a woman. Yes I'm being sexist here but it was so much easier to deal with her.
The guy I've got as a salesperson is seriously underestimating my intelligence and experience and I need to make this work in my favour somehow.
Anyone got any ideas?
Better pull myself together and get out there walking the dogs. Good day all!
Dagmar
When buying a car ( or in large purchase )I have found it helps a lot if I can't get my price that I pick up my keys and leave ( or start to) the salesman is not going to want to give up a sale and will make another offer . One time my boss ( a stubborn cuss) was buying a new car and came within $36.00 of agreeing on a price. He picked up his keys and left, the salesman chased him down the street and agreed on the price.
Good morning guys! Well, not so "good" of a morning outside here, it's been storming all morning and the streets are like rivers. The poor dog was freaking out again. While I was in the shower he hid in the back corner of our walk-in closet (which is inside the bathroom).
All this rain is making the ants attempt to explore inside our hose. Yesterday we found them in a closet in the kitchen. All we keep in that closet is paper bags, paper towels, and toilet paper, so it's not like they were into any food, but it was still gross. Sprayed all over the closet with ant poison and they aren't back there this morning, but we found them near the kitchen sink. They seem to be coming out through the electrical outlets in the walls. I don't really know what to do other than spraying the outlets with poison. I'm just hoping they won't actually get to any of the food in the kitchen!
In other news, I went to the new rheumatologist this morning. He seems like a nice guy, and he said he knew the guy I had seen a few years ago. He poked and prodded me and they took blood to repeat some of the tests I had done a few years ago. While he doesn't really know what's wrong with me unless the test results are different than they were last time, at least I got the impression that he was willing to try whatever treatments they have available rather than just ignoring it. He wants me to go ahead and try the Lyrica prescription that the physiatrist gave me and see me again in four weeks (by then I'll know whether the Lyrica helped or not, and he will have the test results). Right now the only diagnosis they can give me is "polyarthralgia" which literally just means "pain in two or more joints."
In any case I'm going to try to figure out what sort of exercise I can do without irritating anything because the inactivity is really taking a toll. The physical therapist approved me for static weight lifting so that's one thing I can do, although I can't hold dumbbells so it will have to be body weight or barbells. I'm going to get my bike rigged up on the indoor bike trainer again so I can possibly do some biking without having to put any weight on my wrists on the handlebars. I'm thinking I'll put a giant pillow on the handlebars so I can lean my elbows on it since sitting upright will irritate my tailbone.
They seem to be coming out through the electrical outlets in the walls.
Same here! Every June, regardless of the weather, they invade as if they're living inside the house--within the walls. Two years ago, when I was in Italy, DH promised to remove all the switch plates and spray inside them. He never got around to it. I've had them in three places in the kitchen and in DS's bath and closet and DD's closet. Oh, and a few in the laundry room yesterday.
We've had such a mild summer (so far) that I thought we wouldn't see any. But they must be on some sort of schedule!
They make handlebars that allow you to put most of your weight on your forearm--I've seen racers use them. You'd be more hunched over which would help your tailbone. Kind of like this: Handlebars
OK, here's the thing. I never spray poisons inside my house because things that can kill insects can kill lots of other things as well and can make you sick. Jessica, if I were you, it would be the last thing I'd be putting in my house.
The other day an A/C guy was out here, and there were some ants on the A/C unit. The first thing he wanted to do was run and get the poison spray. I stopped him. I said, let's just wash them off with the hose. Well, we don't want them inside the unit, he said. Well, I don't want poison inside the unit either! I said. So I hosed them off, he did his service work, replaced the panels, and that was that.
You cannot kill every insect in the world! And if you could, we would die along with them. If the bees die, for example, we go soon thereafter because crops will fail. And bees are already in trouble.
There really is no reason to go nuts with poison spray, no matter what climate you live in. There are better ways to go. I use ant traps for the ants. They carry the food back to the nest and then the whole colony dies, without my worrying about my health or my cat's health.
That said, termites are another matter, and I have had some kinds of poison that are very specific put down around the perimeter and underneath the house for them. Never inside.
Today is my first day off for the summer!! See why I'm happy?
I finished at school on Friday but still worked Weight Watchers Saturday and Sunday, so today is my official first day without work. I really have tons more to do at school but I guess it will wait-- more or less-- I think I'll go in once this week to rid my house of 4 boxes of books I had delivered here and to turn in some reimbursements. Other than that, I'm off until August.
Jessica-- I hope you get some answers from your new doctor. I know how frustrated you've been.
Dagmar-- we've used the "internet sales" or "fleet sales" of car dealerships and had much better luck with the negotiations. You can get quotes before you go in and there is little to no haggling. Hate the negotiating!!
We've also used lots of groupons and livingsocial coupons. I just bought one for an introductory scuba diving experience. I've wanted to scuba dive for years bought I'm not positive dh and/or I would actually be able to do it-- possibly claustrophobic? So, this is an introductory exploration in a pool with the equipment and instructors. Instead of $50, I paid $25 for the deal and dh and I will do it soon.
First day off and what am I doing? Dewey woke up at 5:45 and didn't want to go back to sleep. I've been to the dentist and tried to donate blood (they were extremely backed up due to a new system so I'm going in next week). I visited my friend's dachshund, Buddy, in the animal hospital as my friend is in Italy for two weeks and very worried about him. He has been having back troubles. Poor guy barely knows me and they put me in a room and left us. After 45 minutes (!) I went looking for someone to put him back. They told me he is doing better so I sent my friend a text. Hopefully she'll relax and enjoy her trip more.
I've paid bills, cleaned house, made appointments, etc. It's amazing how much I can do when I don't have to work!!
Off soon to grocery shop and then going to boot camp tonight. Dd is at camp for the week and dh is gone again.
Hello everyone! Haven't checked in here in a long time and thought I'd pop in =)
I'm a huge Adele lover too, although one of my local radio stations has been playing "rolling in the deep" pretty much twice an hour and that gets a little old. I think there are about ten songs the station just rotates through...
Love Groupon and LivingSocial too! Unfortunately when I'm here on the east coast they don't have it set up yet for my city. I check out the Philly deals but that's a bit far for me to drive (about 2 hours) unless there's something super exciting to try, and then I have to incorporate it in another trip.
Jessica, I hope your new doc can figure out what's going on. And the ants... ick. I hate spraying chemicals around and would probably try some ant traps first. I had a big ant problem when I first moved into one of my college apartments and that did the trick.
MicheleI've paid bills, cleaned house, made appointments, etc. It's amazing how much I can do when I don't have to work!! That all kinda sounds like work to me.
Everyone who gave me car buying tips - THANKS! I did go online and get a starting price. Since DH has agreed to "buy" the Corolla it's much easier now. I have a specific downpayment and a time period I want to make the payment within. I plug in the numbers etc.
I also called a new dealership and got a much better sounding guy (younger and less prejudiced against blonde women buyers). He actually will let me drive the model of car I want to buy (but why do they all keep trying to sell me a BLUE one?)
Jessica I agree with Jay on the pesticides. We use the ant traps where you poke the holes in them and the ants take the bait back to their colony. I don't recommend these if you have dogs though - most dogs love peanut butter and that is the bait. I'm not sure if sprinkling boric acid powder will take care of ants - works really well for roaches. Poor Carter. I wish we could explain that storms, or fireworks will be over after a while.
And I wish I could explain to little Lucy that I'm not trying to kill her by taking her out. I sat with her in her own, quiet backyard for 35 minutes today and she did not want to be there. My trainer friend has agreed to do an assessment but she and I both agree that Lucy is just not ready for group walks with a dogwalker. I hope to have her back when she is - she has the most soulful soft eyes.
saef you and Allison have convinced me to give Adele another listen. I bought "19" quite a while ago and wasn't very impressed or distressed by it. I also bought "Rockferry" by Duffy at that time and really liked it. Anyone listen to Joss Stone or Jewel any more? Right now I'm listening to a bunch of Arcade Fire's stuff. And vintage Rush - I'm still a rocker at heart but these bands appeal right now.
I'm writing a book here - time to go clean the catboxes and put out the recycling and then relax with my latest series of books (the upside to having DH studying so much is how much reading I'm doing) - Gregor: The Underland Chronicles.
To Adele's moody emoting and Amy Winehouse's husky vamp, I'd like to add Jennifer Hudson- the voice of Motown reincarnated. I don't listen to music nearly often enough anymore- yet another casualty of my 50-hour-a-week job and 3-small-boys lifestyle. But, I think I could do much better with my downloading and playing more interesting music while I work out, instead of whatever is being played at the time on the local student-run university station.
For those who do Groupon, do you live in small towns, medium or large cities? I live near Lansing, metro-area pop. 300,000, yet there are a real dearth of interesting offers. Most days are really lame (burger joints, bars, massage/hair/nails parlors and a wide array of services I don't need like roofing, siding, lawn care etc). I'd kill to get an interesting (and good) Italian restaurant...or Guamian food (is that even a word, "Guamian?").
Jess, I hope this round of tests turns up something more concrete. I know it totally stinks to hurt so much and not have an answer. In the meantime, be careful with the Lyrica- it's notorious for inducing weight gain.
Maintainers weekly chat June 20 - June 26
I wish I could take a day off work but that's just not an option for me.
from the imminent car purchase. I am starting step 2 of the negotiation tomorrow. Wouldn't it be nice if I could go in, tell them the car I want, test drive that model (rather than one that's several thousand dollars more), get a straight answer re price, and buy the car? I did that with my last car salesperson - a woman. Yes I'm being sexist here but it was so much easier to deal with her.
See why I'm happy?
That all kinda sounds like work to me.
