Shad
The computer here at work kept going off also. Not sure what was going on. Did you go on the date?


Michelle
Ugh on those last minute details for the reports. Glad the dh got to Springfield okay. Did he have to detour any where on 65 highway? They are alway's working on that highway. I did end up on Campbell and couldn't find my way out because of a detour. I know that Campbell runs into Interstate 44 but didn't know how far down I would have to travel. Should have stopped in Bass Pro but instead went to to a church parking lot and called my sis. She was in town a couple of blocks away at the college, MSU. She came and picked me up did her errands. I started to go back to National street where my nephew lives.

Laura
The taco's sounds good. You can alway's exercise tonight. I still haven't been in a mood to do anything healthy. I've been eating better but not sure how long that will last. I am caught up on May's paper work. Yipee.

Ellen
It's hot here too. These dog's are smart in wanting to stay inside.

Nothing to report. We may have some pop up thunder storms this afternoon. I went out on the clairifier again today and found two more bird eggs. The momma bird didn't have time to make a full nest but she does have a few springs of grass. I hope she can build the nest up some more. I'm not telling anyone this time.

Afternoon Everyone/Evening/Morning Everyone....

Miss Mellie...hope you are further down the road of recovery and feeling much better by now. We miss you lovey. Get well soon!!!

Chelle...yah for you getting in an hour of water aerobics. Hope MIL is feeling better. Drats on the reports and gunk.

SHADDIE....Oh a date...do share!! Takes the heat off of me. lol

Ceejay...spiders don't bother me, I figure I am bigger than they are and I can step on them. haha

Happy...you are just sh*ttin and gettin it around that house...good for you sista.

Ellen..hope you get all your closets cleaned out and you and the kiddos stay cool while doing it.

Laura...sometimes when we procrastinate about things it turns out well...i.e. the book club. What a relief. Goodluck with the router.

Not much to report here either..hot and humid with storms coming in the latter part of each day, particularly the weekend. David is coming over tonight for dinner. I made my famous pizza and breadsticks last night and they are in the frige ready to pop in the oven. Going to through together a salad and also bake a Better Than S*x Cake for dessert when I get home. CVS tomorrow night, Sissy is cutting/coloring my hair Thursday nite then CVS again on Friday nite. This week is pretty much shot and trying to figure out when I can work grass cutting in the schedule. Dusted, mopped and vacuumed last night.

Best post this and get busy....dang gone Michigan bosses will be here tomorrow and Thursday. Rats.

Have a marvelous night/morning.

Love and hugs,

Howdy peeps,

Internet is realllllly slow here at work. I think it's a subversive plot to get us to work - but it's LUNCH TIME, we're allowed a break!

I just finished some store bought seafood salad (with the fake crab stuff like you get at Subway) on a mini croissant with some grape tomatoes. Yum yum. Usually I am finding that while the deli salads look good and tempting in the store, in actuality most of them are a waste of calories once you get them home. I made some homemade potato salad this weekend because we haven't had it in about a year and DH was asking for it. We had the last of it with leftover burgers the night before and it gave me horrid acid reflux. Funny how your body reacts to stuff when you haven't eaten it in a long time. Sometimes mayo bothers me really bad and other times it doesn't. Haven't figured that one out.

Last night I went out in the yard around 9pm to feed Mr Feral. I went back out to pick up the dishes after he left and there was a small orangy spider very busy building a web between the lawn chair and the top of the patio umbrella. I was fascinated watching him for about 10 minutes. Talk about focus - he / it ran the parallel strands and was going in a circle now to make the inner web. We sometimes get some spiders making elaborate webs on summer nights and by morning the webs are all gone. So after I watched this spider, I decided to water my herb garden which are plants still in pots on the patio table. I turned to my left to get the hose and as I turned back to go turn on the water, I walked smack dab into the spider web OMG - I started slapping myself silly - I actually thought at one point about ripping my shirt off - I was so afraid the spider was on me. Sure don't take much to get me distracted I am happy to report that for both the spider and me that while I took down some of his web, the spider made it through the ordeal. Just curled in a tight ball until I was a safe distance away, shrugged it off and went back to repairing the damage. This was a common garden spider, not one of those black or brown dangerous ones.

DH is working so hard in the house - poor guy - his back is really killing him, I told him he has to take it a bit easier as we can't have him out for a week at a time AND he has to be in good enough shape to drive us to the new house in a few weeks when we go on vacation.

I didn't get much done last night - we sat and talked for a while when I got home, then we had to run to the store which made supper really late even tho we ate deli stuff for convienence. Wasn't much time left after that, I cleaned up the kitchen, put away some laundry, fed the cats, played with the spider and it was time for bed. Tonight I have about 2 hours of work when I get home to finish cleaning upstairs and all will be ready for Mom on Thursday.

Laura - good luck with the new router. I think they have planned obsolence - if the technology isn't supported they find a way to make it break so you have to buy a new one Did you save me a taco? Sounds good. I have such a taste for Mexican food lately.

Ok, I am officially jealous of Ellen, Laura and Michelle if it's going to get a cool break up your way

Michelle- yes, I agree with you about the paperwork taking longer than the work, particularly when you're implementing reports and changes as you do. But you know how it goes, relax and standards and someone gets sloppy and screws up I'm sure DH will get an eyeful down in MO - really sad how devistating a tornado or flood can be. I hope he is able to get what he needs to do his job. Good thing he thought to bring some supplies with him - I remember doing that too - back when you could bring 2 suitcases when you travelled and no one penalized you for it OMG on the spider! I am really afraid of the brown recluses because of that very thing. I'm super careful going through boxes that have been sitting in the garage.

Shad - you make me think of an old song - "Working in a coal mine, going down, down, down... " Boy talk about primitive. And I would be really concerned about breathing all that coal dust. I hope you don't have to be there that long. Glad to hear Chris is doing ok. Isn't she in NZ instead of Japan?

Annie - the pole dancing class looks like fun. It appears to take alot of athelicism? - strength - to do that without looking like a looney tunes. Looks interesting except when they add the hooker boots or "eff-me" shoes as one of my co-workers calls them, I think it cheapens things. Just remember, if you take lessons, you will have to put one of those in your house to practice I'd try that if I wasn't afraid if irrepairable harm to this old body

Mel

Back to work for me.

Good afternoon everyone -

I am totally dragging right now. I'm so tired. And I can't even blame it on the heat cuz the a/c is working great here at work. For the past few hours, I've been fighting to stay awake, and I slept good last night...the doggies only woke me up once to go outside. I could definitely use clothespins or toothpicks to keep the eyes propped open.

I don't have any plans for this evening except to watch TV with DMIL.

*********************

Ellen - I hope you were able to make progress on the laundry and the girls' clothes. My dogs don't stay outside long in this heat either.

Laura - So nice that someone else is hosting the book club this week. Bummer about your router. Supposedly we can get Netflix through our Wii, but we haven't signed up for Netflix yet so we haven't tried it out.

Ceejay - DH didn't tell me which highways he took to get to Springfield, so I don't know if he was on 65 or had to be detoured off of it, or if he went on 44. Those detours can turn you all around. But as they say up here, Wisconsin has two seasons: winter and road construction! Good for you for eating better. Keep it up! And catching up on May's paperwork! I'm glad to hear that there are more bird eggs at your work...even if they aren't in a full nest. I hope the babies are able to hatch and grow up safely.

Annie - Enjoy your dinner date with David. You might not want to tell David the name of the cake or he'll prolly take you to the bedroom so there can be a true comparison. Unless of course you want that. So nice that your DD can cut/color your hair. My stylist is about 1/2 hour away, and I always postpone the haircuts/root touchups.

Happy - Your seafood salad sandwich sounds yummy! about walking into the spider web! At least you and the good spider were okay...and the web was fixable. Sorry to hear that your DH's back is bothering him. If he uses liniment, I highly recommend J.R. Watkin's Liniment. It has Camphor, Capsicum and Spruce. It smells to high heaven...and you can definitely "feel" it...but it helps me A LOT. Also, my PT reminds me that I need to stretch before and after exerting myself. I hope you are able to get the house cleaning done tonight. Don't be too jealous of us Northerners about the cool break....remember we were up to our elbows in snow just a few months ago. There's a gym not too far away that has "exotic" aerobic classes...where you wear those shoes/boots and feather boas and lingerie. I haven't been, but my friends keep inviting me. :bellydance:

Well, time to get ready for a meeting to discuss all the documentation I created this morning. I hope it lets out early.

Stay cool Worldly sistas!

Lots of love to all,

Happy Wednesday, which despite my schedule telling me so, it is not a day off. I'm back at Blair Athol threatening the men with my cattle prod.

Have a new mail from Jennifer

joy
mom says hello and hopes your job is doing ok.
she said you might be traveling this week.

mom is doing ok and gets up a few times each day.
she has been resting and sleeping a lot.
still on liquids, baby food, farina and water.

the pain is not as bad but not gone yet.
the doctor said to call him in another week.
she still has no pain pills and i don't know how she
can sleep without them. but she is sleeping good she says.

she looks better than she feels so i left the signs on her door.
NO VISITORS!!!

today is an election day without her. lol
she's not using her upper body too much like the doctor said.
i will write again if anything changes.
she sends love to everyone- jennifer

There you have it. Progress. Which is more than what is happening here at the present time. I guess the guys have headed for the hills again. I need to point out to them that the conveyor has developed a high pitched whine. Since it goes directly over my head, I am tuned for developments. I don't need 100 tons of coal to land on me thanks.

Back later hopefully with personals. I have a long drive in front of me to get back to the camp tonight. I'll be able to think then

Happy Hump/Trash Day!!!

Dinner with David was wonderful. Lots of conversation about everything...sorry Chelle, no bedroom activity...not ready for that, HOWEVER, I did find out he is a GREAT kisser!! Yummy. He is taking me to dinner this Saturday nite at Petite Chou by Patachou...it is up in the elite part of Carmel, Indiana (snobs), but very pretty area at Clay Terrace Shops. Google it, very nice area, lot of the roads are bricked.

Happy...isn't it fasinating to watch a spider make his web. When the kids were little we used to just sit and watch them weave as there was a lot of webbing going on when we lived in the out in the sticks, especially on the lawn chairs. Then DS would get weary of watching and smack the heck out of them. Which was a bit mean but so hilarious. He still is kind of like that. haha

Shaddie...Thanks for the update on our MELLIE. God love her...yes, no coal on your head please...and isn't that the wrong kind of whining that machine is doing...you need wine-ing....a nice Merlot please.

CHELLE...sounds like you need a caffeine I.V. Poor thing. Maybe watch TV tonight with DMIL with your eyes closed. Take a nice honk shu!

HAPPY.part 2....I am with you on that store bought salad stuff. It seems it is more mayo mix stuff than the actual mix items (potato, pasta, meat, etc) in there than anything. Bleckie! I do not like potato salad but have been told by many that my homemade tato salad rocks. Stop on by, I will whip you up some....do you come anywhere close to Indy when you go north? I would love to meet you in person.

Better get this posted before the big bosses get here this morning....welcome to the two days of h*ll..

Hello's to Ellen, Laura, Ceejay and MELLIE..

Extra Hugs and Get Wells to Mellie...

Have a wonderful day....

Hi ladies -

First...I want to share something my DH posted on FB. He's working in Missouri this week, and yesterday he was working very close to Joplin, so he drove through there after work to see the damage the tornado did.

"Drove thru Joplin Missouri today, whatever you saw on the news is nothing compaired to what it looks like in person. it looks like it was nuked. The tornado went right through the middle of town and it was a mile and a half wide and everything is just gone. A Home Depot and Walgreens are just foundations. Both high schools in town are destoyed. Any money you can spare please give to the Red Cross. People are in shock, I drove through a neighborhood that was reduced to mostly foundations and rubble. There was an older man in his front yard with a weedwacker trimming the grass along the sidewalk in front of the foundation where his house used to be. I think he is in shock and just trying to find some little bit of what normalcy in his life. I stopped and gave him a case of Gatorade I had in the truck. He is staying at the shelter at night and walking 4 miles back to his "home" everyday to look for any pieces of his life he can salvage. He is 87 and lost his wife last fall and now everything he has is gone. I am still choked up. But it is heartening to see the strength of the people here and how people from all over the country are coming here to help out. The Red Cross has enough supplies they just need money to provide housing for the people who lost their homes."

He called me a couple times to tell me what he saw there. He was in shock. He couldn't believe all the big, sturdy buildings that were reduced to just rubble. So many homes that are simply GONE! Absolutely heartbreaking! My prayers go out to all those affected.

Happy Wednesday ladies -

In light of my husband's post about Joplin, I'm going to start the day by acknowledging (to myself) all that I am grateful for. Dang, it really puts things in perspective, as did the quake and tsunami in Japan. In fact, as I think about all the things I was going to grumble about...being tired, tedious paperwork and meetings, back pain (which is getting better)...I'm realizing that all my "grumbles" can "turned around" into gratitudes.

Today is PT at lunch time, and I hope they don't work me out too hard as I have a 2:30 meeting. Then it's 25 minutes or so of Ball Zumba after work, and going to the pool after that. Not sure if I'll do the water aerobics or just do a "cool down" from Ball Zumba.

For the past several days, I've been feeling like I was forgetting something, and as I was driving to work today, I remembered. I have A LOT of website work that has to get done. I totally forgot about it after the trip up north. So now I need to kick it into high gear to get it done quickly. DH will be working in the yard starting to put in concrete block rings around a few trees, which will in a week or so be filled with dirt and plants.

******************************

Shad - Bummer that you don't get a day off. I hope you can prod those guys into getting their sh*t together and getting stuff done. Thanks for the update from Jen. I'm glad the tenants aren't pestering Mel. Rest, sleep and a soft food diet are the best ways to get over what she has. Whining conveyors are even worse than whining men. I hope they address the conveyor noise quickly. Wishing you safe travels back to camp.

Annie - I'm glad you had a nice evening with David and that he's a good kisser! I hope you have a nice evening on Saturday too! DMIL and I watched a movie last night, and then I went to bed really early. I was exhausted. I'm feeling a little better this morning, but I would've prefered to sleep in. (who wouldn't, right?) I hope the big bosses aren't too much of a PITA, and that the two days aren't h*ll after all.

to Happy, Ceejay, Laura and Ellen!

Get well wishes and hugs to Mellie.

Much love and hugs to all,

Annie
I have a feeling that David is a keeper. Glad things are progressing in the dating game.

Michelle
I didn't get to go to Joplin when I was in Springfield, Mo last week. My bil drove through there on his way to a pastor's luncheon in Neosho, Mo. He said about the same thing your dh said. I have contributed by the way of the church he pastor's. He's personally taking the money collected to Joplin.

Shad
So glad to hear from Mel. Thanks for keeping us posted. Sorry that you don't have a day off.

It's hot, hot, hot today. Checked on the bird eggs and they are both still there. I was kinda concerned yesterday asI fished out a dead crow from one of the filters. I did see momma bird checking on the later.
Not sure if I mentioned this or not but my bil found a perfect picture of a little boy that said first grade on the back. Personal items are being found all around the area. 40 dollars in cash was found in a cemetary.

Not going anywhere this week end. I need to rest.

Hi ladies,
Quickie for me. I wanted you to know that I just sent an order out to Mel with 2 audio books - one of George Carlin who I thought she liked and another of Bob Newhardt. I thought she could use a little humor and figured it was easier to listen to comedians than a story. I also sent a movie- Untamed Heart which is one of my favorites and I think she will enjoy it. It most probably will come in 3 separate shipments as I ordered it from half.com which is where I get most of my videos and movies. I know we wanted to do something and I was at a loss for movie and book suggestions so not wanting to delay things any further, I just perused some selections at lunch and made a decision for all of us. Shad - are you communicating with Jen on Mel's email addy? I wanted to let Mel know these were coming. Can you let her know please? I will send an email to Mel too and hopefully Jen will pick it up. Sorry I can't post personals - something is going on with our internet at work and things are realllly really slow so it took most of my lunch to select and process the order. I have to do some last minute tidying before I pick up Mom tomorrow so probably won't get back her until lunch tomorrow.

to all - Michelle - your DH's description of Joplin was heartbreaking. Those poor people...

Hello to all the Worldlies!

Ceejay - Glad the paperwork for May is done. I handed in my monthly report input this morning, so that's done for another month.

Annie - Glad to hear the date went well last night. Hope all is well even though the MI bosses are there today.

Happy - Okay, you can stop talking about spiders now!!! I just hate them and that feeling of walking into a web, be it a real spider web or a cobweb!!! Sorry DH's back is hurting him. Definitely get him to take it easy and do some stretching, wear one of those back patches, etc. Glad you're almost ready for your mum's visit. We bought a new router last night, which bf installed immediately. Then we had a brief power outage this morning (all the AC units in town are going full blast, I'm sure of it). Grrr. The router still worked...just wondering if there was some damage that'll cause it to fry out sooner than it should and/or before the planned obsolescence hits. Bf claimed he'd just return it - uh, already opened? We'll see. I bet he's going to buy a backup power system so we don't have the damaging spikes that happen when the power blips in and out.

Shad - Thanks for the update on Mel. Good to know her recovery is coming along. I would not like to hear that sound coming out of the coal conveyor...or is that just a ploy to get the guys back for their training??

Michelle - DH's e-mail to you about Joplin is just heartbreaking, especially hearing about his encounter with the elderly man. You are right, we have so very much to be greateful for!!! Need to remember that. Hope your PT is going well right now, and enjoy your Zumba and water aerobics tonight! Oh how I hate that feeling of having forgotten something - especially when it's related to work!

Hellos to Ellen and Mel!!

Nothing much to report. Hot as Hades out there. Bf and I took doggy for a short and slow walk after work yesterday. I did a BE workout in the basement - pushups, triceps, abs, back & quads. After that was the trip to the store for the router. No movie because of movie group member graduation ceremonies to attend for the kids.

Nothing going on tonight except an exercise class - need to check the schedule to see which one.

Okay, gotta go. Exported some reports to Excel and they need to be prettied up.

Okay, I posted very slowly because there were two sneaker-inners.

Ceejay - Glad those bird eggs were still there! I've also heard about the expectation that eventually stuff will be washing ashore on the West Coast that will have come all the way from Japan! So sad when you realize the enormity of these catastrophes. It's not the stuff per se, but the impact on the lives.

Happy - Great choices for the audio books! I'm sure Mel will enjoy them!

Cant stop, but I just wanted to let happy know that I am using Mel's email to talk to Jen. She reads them to Mel and replies through them.

Thanks Happy for the books and movie. I just don't have the time at the moment.

Time for Red Mountain. See you

Good Morning All Ya'll............

HAPPY..thank you so very much for being proactive and getting MELLIE's gift to her. Let us know our share please. You are awesome, thanks for taking care of this slacker.

CHELLE...I too, am reflecting on everything I am greatful for in my life. I was just talking to God about that this morning.

SHADDIE...that job is keeping you WAY too busy....first a job that has nothing for you to do then this job that gives you enough work for 2 or 3 people...maybe a happy medium would be nice!

Laura...hot as Hades here too, yuck, but a cool down is coming. Amen. Good for you on the BE work out...do a little extra to cover my heiny too, will ya?

Ceejay...yes the destruction of Joplin is awful. I keep seeing it on the news and my heart just breaks for all of them. It is hard to even know what to pray for those people....there is so much they need right now.

Ellen...keeping cool, swimming with the kidlets...they are so cute at that age in their bathing suits.

MELLIE...much love and mucho hugs to you, sweet sista.

I sent MELLIE a "Humana" care package with a lot of little whatnots in it. Should humor her just a bit. I took out all the smelly lotion type things.

Yes, Ceejay, so far, David is a keeper and so thoughtful. We actually went to a "relationship" type status, and have only kissed so far...lol. That really means a lot this day and age.

I think I need to latch into Chelle's caffeine I.V. today, last night at CVS was murder. A girl called off and it was me and the manager only. Needless to say, mostly me as she had to count drawers, etc. Actually, non-stop customers at the register....didn't even get a breather....did not restock the cigs nor get the vacuuming done. Last customer left at 10:10, we close at 10:00.

Better get this posted, just heard the first MI boss arrive a few minutes ago. Oh Yeah, can hardly wait, and meetings..well BLAH~! I am sick of single-points and enrollment issues.....

Have a marvy day.

Loves and Hugs

Happy Thursday ladies -

DH gets home today! It'll be so nice to have him home again. My PT really worked me out yesterday, and he told me that I should not do BOTH Ball Zumba and water aerobics...so I chose to do Ball Zumba, which was lots of fun. Next week, I'm going to start attending real Zumba classes and just do the moves I learned on the ball. It will work out well because my PT wants me to limit my activity to 1 or 2 classes per day. So I can do water aerobics on Mondays, Zumba on Tuesdays, PT and water aerobics on Wednesdays, Zumba and maybe strength training on Thursdays, and gardening/yard work on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. My PT's advice now is: no "real" Zumba yet; if it hurts, don't do it; and if you're tired, rest.

We had big storms last night, but I don't think we had any tornadoes (thank goodness)! Most of the area had hail (between quarter and golf ball size), thunder, lightning and winds between 70 to 100 mph.

*************************

Ceejay - I'm glad to hear that the Momma bird and the eggs are still around. I'm glad you're taking this weekend off to rest. You've been busy and could use some downtime.

Happy - Thank you SO much for ordering some audio books and a DVD for Mel. Those were great choices!! I'm sure she'll love them. I've never ordered from Half.com, so thanks for that tip as well! Please tell us what our share is so we can reimburse you. How much time are you taking off for your mom's visit?

Laura - Congrats on the new router, but bummer about the power outage. We had power outages yesterday morning too (either A/C related or storm related) and another power outage last night due to the storms. It's definitely a good idea to buy a backup power system. My PT is going well and I am making progress...slow progress...but progress nonetheless. Good for you for walking the dog and doing the BE workout! I hope your class was fun last night? Which class was it. I was really glad to wake up this morning to a bit of relief from the high temps and humidity.

Shad - I hope things are going well in Red Mountain. Safe travels, my friend.

Annie - I'm so happy for you that David is thoughtful and a "keeper". You and I are gonna have to arm wrestle for the caffeine IV today...I did not sleep well due to the storms. I was worried that I was going to fall asleep driving to work, but thankfully an open window and music cranked up loud kept me alert. Bummer that you were essentially flying solo at CVS last night. I hope you have tonight off to relax.

Time to get some work done! Talk to y'all later.

Lots of love and big hugs,