Maintainers Weekly Chat July 16 - July 22
 

We've had eight days without rain. It feels wimpy to whine when there are farmers with real problems without rain. Yesterday weather predictions listed thunder showers. I even carried an umbrella on two occasions, but that didn't draw water. It was a humongous golf umbrella from a yard sale last month that I haven't used yet. It's big enough to keep two of us dry in the worst of downpours. DW doesn't seem sympathetic that my greatest problem in life is the need to test my new umbrella.

Bill We had our first real rain, since May, yesterday. I sat on the verandah at the dogsit watching the water pour down. I imagined I could hear all the beautiful greenery laughing with relief as it became more and more wet. The pets all contentedly lay around me on the stone floor, enjoying the first cool outside air we ve had in weeks.

I'm starting the week angry :mad:, due to an email sent by DH. I was looking forward to going home but now there's just going to be more and more discussion of why he still can't make any money and has to work part-time.

ENOUGH! I am not going to support him for the rest of his life. GROW UP!

I also have my dad harassing :stress: me via telephone from Estonia. It is going to be a hard week but I will persevere. And I will be very glad to have my computer back.

Good Monday all!

Dagmar :tired:

We had monsoonal weather at the end of last week and through the weekend. The only real rain we saw was on Friday afternoon, but it wasn't enough to amount to anything. It did bring some cooler temperatures. I much prefer low 100's to anything over 110.

Saturday afternoon DH and I started car shopping. He currently drives a 2005 Ford Expedition and he's been convinced for year that he "needs" a big SUV. I'm not as convinced. We started at the Ford dealership where he became smitten with the smaller version, the Explorer. He also likes the Flex, but I see him in the Explorer. It's got a lot more tech stuff than his current vehicle. I hope he decides on this--I think he'll like it a lot. Meanwhile, the lease on my Jaguar is up in October and our CPA said it is in our best interest to turn in the car and lease a new one. I started looking and narrowed it down to several cars. We started at BMW where I sat in the gorgeous, albeit very expensive, 640i Gran Coupe. What luxury! But the teeny tiny trunk and huge price tag ($97,000) was quite a turn-off. Next was Desert European where I got my Jag. I looked first at the XJL which is the largest of the Jags. Oh, such beauty and luxury with a larger trunk and slightly smaller price tag ($91,000 I think). Then we looked at the Audi A7. I think we'll go with this for several reasons: I don't want the same car I have now, this is practically the same price as my current Jag ($60,000), the tech stuff is amazing on this car AND it has a huge trunk (no more golf clubs in the trunk and suitcases in the back seat when we go on vacation!). We also looked at the Audi A8, but there is no way we could afford that (over $118,000)--James described it as driving your living room. It even had massaging seats! So now I'll have to tell the sales people just what I want and see when they can arrange it for me (I want to wait for a 2013 model). Hardest will be telling my Jag salesman that I want the Audi!

Good luck getting to use your new umbrella Bill. The weather was hot here while I was gone (100 plus) but the heat wave is over. Going to be in the low 70s today! I actually love summer and wouldn't mind the heat. I usually go to Houston in July or August and get a good dose of summer but I've decided not to go this year. We will go there for Christmas instead. I've decided to visit dd in Spokane for a few days instead. We are also bringing younger dd to college in August so many upcoming trips!

Allison- sounds like fun car shopping. Massaging seats sounds divine!

Dagmar- hang in there. Remember that food isn't the answer!

My weight seems okay after my trip but I'm still holding my breath. As I have so many upcoming trips, I'm trying to focus on bring very close to perfect while home.

Today I see the eye doctors. I have to see both a regular eye doctor for my eye exam and the specialist for my Graves Disease. One eye seems blurry so I'll see what they say.

Happy Monday everyone!

Thanks for the birthday wishes, all! I had a little bit of ice cream and also some divine chocolate cheesecake made by my good friend's DH, which I understand also doesn't have calories on one's birthday. A big group of friends met on the sand flat up the river. A friend did a low boil, we played bocce, alternated sitting in the sun and sitting in the cool river water. It was exactly what I wanted, all my friends coming out and having fun. Saturday I went scalloping on a friend's boat, and Friday night to our new Tapas bar to celebrate another friend's birthday. What a fun weekend!

I will try to tell you guys more fun stories about work if you are interested. Lately the "fun" has been getting the heck away from lightning storms. We usually have thunderstorms that build up in the PM in the summer, but this year the storms are frequent and totally unpredictable. Obviously we can't work on the beach in lightning, and since I have to drive by boat to my sites this is also very problematic. Like Bill I spend a lot of time staring at the sky.

Allison, GL breaking the news to your jag salesman. I first read it as telling your Jag (not Jag salesman) you wanted the Audi and laughed. Enjoy your new car! Massaging seats would be divine!

Dagmar, sorry about your frustrations. Enjoy your new mattress! I'm sure your back will feel much better. It must be hard sleeping at your petsitting clients' places as well, not knowing what state their mattresses are in, when you have back troubles.

Bill, if that is your greatest problem in life, you're doing well! Hope you get some rain soon. I will try to tell our rain clouds to go visit you instead.

Michele, hope your exams go well and there's nothing seriously wrong w your eye.

Saef, I'm glad to hear that you're moving back into your apartment even if it's going slowly. The end is in sight! You will have your place organized and your routines re-established in no time.

Have a good week everyone. :)

Happy belated birthday Megan! :hb:

No rain here. Supposedly this is the driest year since 1908! Sorry I have been somewhat absent lately, life has been a little hectic. They keep bringing in more and more and more junk food at work though, and it's driving me crazy. Usually I work out at lunchtime, but they keep having surprise lunch meetings with pizza brought in which means eating junk and not exercising.

I know I could be exercising more restraint than I am, but one of my key ways to succeed is to avoid having temptation in front of me, and this is causing a problem. At least at home there is no junk food.

I kept tabs on how much fluid I consumed today - over 4 litres. I think about the same came out - I felt like I spent at least an hour total in various bathrooms over the day.

Tomorrow will be the hotter :flame: than h*ll day and several clients have now asked for EXTRA walks for their dogs. :crazy: I never, ever took my sheperd/lab mix out mid-day in the summer (and the temps were a great deal cooler in those days). Thank goodness the one non-swimmer and water-disliker is not on for Tuesdays. Everyone will be out for 30 minutes maximum and most of that will be spent in the water. I'm going to wear my Tevas and join them. At least there will be wind - 30+ km per hour - that always helps keep the humidity down a bit.

Weigh in tomorrow morning as well. Will it be :yikes: or :goodscale: I really have no idea. My clothes all fit the same and, looking at my arms and feeling my ribs, I think I may have lost a bit. The tension mounts . . . :p

Good evening all!

Dagmar :brr:

Did my weigh in for the first time in 2 weeks - 135 lbs. :yay: Nice to know I can maintain my weight at red line for 2 weeks without using a scale.

I'm going to try a yoga workout this morning - first time since my back spasm on June 24. I'll do things very gently and slowly and see what my back says.

Good Tuesday all!

Dagmar :D

Why don't I learn sometimes? Went to lunch with dd and majorly overate. Horrible stomach pains as a result. I'm hoping I feel well enough to go to the gym. Sigh....

Does anyone remember my impulsively purchasing some rather rusty cast iron window grates this past fall at an antique show? And hiding them from my mother inside my car's trunk, and then at a friend's house, in her garage? Clandestinely, I had them refinished by a guy who restores vintage automobiles, then hauled them downstate -- all without my mother ever seeing them or hearing of what I'd done.

Anyway, they're up in my apartment now, in the hallway, and my mother loves them. But she wouldn't have if she saw them coated with rust and lying on the ground at the antique dealer's booth, which is where I originally spied them.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4...ronGrilles.jpg

You can see there are three of them, one for each of the three bays in my hallway. (The blue room at the end is the master bedroom. Empty right now, as I mentioned.)

Those are gorgeous, saef! You made a good purchase. I imagine when your mom sees them she'll comment on their beauty and then you can gloat!!!

I wondered what you were going to do with them. They look great. Keep the pictures coming .

More show & tell: Here is the restored sofa that gave me such anxiety over the winter, when it was finished back in February, and I had nowhere to store it, and couldn't yet pick it up. So they wrapped it in plastic and left it in a back room until I had it delivered just before July 4th.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f4...mpireSofa1.jpg

This was probably made in the 1830s, in New York. That's based on the carving and the way the top rail is formed. In those days, there were still regional characteristics in carving -- just barely.

Your apartment is going to be so elegant, I wish I could see it in person.

Wow Saef! Just wow!