[gma22]

Good afternoon. Jack was off today so went at 7 AM to get oil changed in Mariner and the tires rotated. He had the first appointment of the day along with two other guys. Took 2 hours! From what we can glean when Jack raised the roof along with the two other guys, the service manager quit and took all the service techs with him! The new guy has only been there a week and they had to hire all new mechanics. Well these dimwits have no organization and they were letting walkins ahead of Jack and the other two. Jack told him he has one more chance to get the desk guys in order or we are taking our business to another dealership. We moved to this one because where we bought the MKS doesn't do anything but walk ins on Saturdays, which is ridiculous imo and the one where we bought the Mariner is about 30 miles away. This one is only about 5 miles down the road. So we shall see if he can get it in ship shape by the time we have to take the MKS in the next time.

I got up sick as a dog this morning. I woke up around 2 soaked to the gills and feeling sick. I went to the bathroom and back to bed, then when Jack got up I had gone back to sleep and he didn't wan to disturb me. I got up about an hour after him and came downstairs, got in the recliner and when he went to the dealer, went back to sleep. I woke up feeling a lot better so don't know what it was, but I had one heck of a sinus headache again. The pollen here is really high because the flowering trees are blooming. Jack and I sit around sneezing and runny noses. I can't find an allergy medicine that doesn't make me either sleepy or dizzy or raise my bp. I have tried pretty much everything and I don't want to go through a bunch of tests just for them to tell me I am allergic to grass, dust, flowers, etc. It just looks like we may have a bad pollen year this year is all.

Jack was so funny this morning. He asked me if it was ok to buy the 2018 addition of the baseball statistics game he has. I said, "Hey, it's your money go for it." I then ask the burning ??? how much. $210! Geez for a game? I guess you have to pay for each ballpark cd, each manager of each team cd, etc separate. I sure hope he had fun and next year the teams keep the same managers!!!

Hotdogs from Sonic for dinner tonight. I was going to fix hamburger casserole but I forgot to take out the ground beef and it didn't thaw so will have it tomorrow. I hope I remember the recipe. I got it off a frozen pie shell years ago and used to fix it when the kids were still at home. They really liked it.

Sandy: Hope you are up and around by now.

Jean: It is cooler today but tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 70's. I have only been in Costos once years ago. Since it is just the two of us, we don't need Sams anymore. I don't know the exact cost, but it used to be flat rate, but now they have a rate depending on what services you want. At least they did the last time I looked. The river is down flood level wise here but it is still pretty high for general. Hopefully we won't have tons of spring rains.

Hope you all are going to have a nice Easter with family. I sent the boys their cards and hope they have a nice holiday. I sure do miss them both.

Have a nice weekend.

[Jean]

Good Morning! The wind is blowing 30 mph and it feels like 14 degrees outside. Crazy weather! Beth and her family will be here for lunch and the kids requested pizza, from a local pizza place. They don’t like all the “extra” goodies so I am debating about adding some to my own slice. They are going to the other side of the family tomorrow so will most likely have the typical Easter dinner there. We are having ham!

“Gma,” Thank you for starting the new thread! There are people here who think appointments don’t count, try to budge in, or get obnoxious when told otherwise. It definitely is a culture thing here. I would probably pay that much for a game if I really liked it. With my luck the iPad would crash and burn up the program. The mahjong game I really liked quit doing updates so I finally dumped it. I can’t remember if I paid for it or not, but know it wasn’t much if I did. Did you try the new pickle drink at Sonic? That doesn’t sound good to me at all. I am surprised Tom doesn’t encourage Thomas to keep in touch with you.

Not much newsy from here but wanted to wish you all a blessed Easter.

[gma22]

Good afternoon. It is sunny and warm here today. Tomorrow and Monday back to rain. I have been cleaning the downstairs today, but Jack is snoozing in his recliner so will have to wait to dust. I am going to to the kitchen tomorrow.

I am fixing sloppy joe pie for dinner. Hopefully Jack will like it. I thought it sounded good. Jack doesn’t like bell pepper so I am putting in a small amount of chopped celery instead. I have to decide whether to mix the cheese in the sloppy joe mix or sprinkle on top before I put the top crust on.

I have been debating about whether I want to wear hose for T’s graduation and I think I am going to. I bought 4 pr in different colors and I think I may wear the white ones. I bought dress sandals and I just think I want to wear hose.

Jean: Brrr sounds pretty cold your way. We are in the 70’s. Must be warm out as all the cars outside are making vroom noises like they’re fooling with them. I hope you have nice visit with family. It will be just us two this weekend.

Have a blessed Easter everyone.

[gma22]

Good morning. It is a warm and cloudy day right now. We are expecting more rain. Hope you are having a nice Easter with family.

Jack is up showering and I need to get the downstairs dusting done. I am leaving the kitchen until tomorrow as we are having spaghetti tonight and it splatters everywhere on the stove. I have used lids and everything else to prevent it, but it still does it.

We are very frustrated with ITunes at the moment. Jack tried to go in and delete one of my apps to reinstall it so the new IOS would work and they redid it and now they have no applications tab in the library to delete or move around your apps. We spent a good hour trying and gave up. I sent Apple an email about it so we shall see.

Quiet day here today. The game comes on at noon so we will be watching it, but other than that nothing else going on.

My sloppy joe pie was a hit. Jack said, "This tastes pretty good!" The only thing was you couldn't taste the cheese.

Have a good day.

[Jean]

Happy Easter! The sun is shining but the wind is blowing and it’s cold outside! We have spent a quiet day at home, didn’t even go to church. For some reason Bob’s knee has bothered him more yesterday and today so he sits for awhile, then paces around, back to sitting, and now is taking a nap. I’ve done a couple loads of laundry and fixed a ham dinner. Next on my to do list is to count the gift shop money and get it ready to deposit tomorrow.

“Gma,” good luck getting your iTunes straightened out. I hate it when technology things don’t work right. I never know how to fix it. I don’t remember if I shared this or not but when we got home from Maui I had three weeks worth of money and paperwork from the gift shop. I did each week separately like I always do. Somehow I screwed up the spreadsheet so the columns would’t add in either direction. Bob had bought a laptop for the office at a little computer shop here in town, so he called and asked the guy if he would take a look at mine. After explaining all the workings of a spreadsheet and fixing mine, the nice young man told me I should really take a computer class which would include doing a spreadsheet. There is no such thing here in town unless I would take a college class and that’s not going to happen. I warned him first thing that I knew enough to be dangerous when it came to technology. I think we would like your sloppy joe pie. Would you share the recipe?

I need to get my laptop revved up and count the gift shop money. Hope you enjoy the rest of a blessed day!

[gma22]

Good morning! It is a bit cooler today but still nice. We had a quiet day yesterday.

Finish up the kitchen today. Just gonna have plain ole hamburgers tonight. Gonna do a lazy day today.

I noticed it snowed in NY so they had to postpone their opening day baseball game. So much for spring baseball.

Jean: Itunes is still a mess. They did an upgrade and dropped their application saying you can do it on your device, but you can’t. Jack uninstalled it and installed an earlier version so we shall see. Hopefully Bob’s knee will feel better soon. Jack taught me Excel and when I need to do something I don’t know he shows me, but I just use it for my budget. I take it the gift shop doesn’t have a backup for you. Brother!

Sloppy Joe Pie
heat oven to 450 degrees

1 box Pillsbury pie crust
1 lb hamburger
1 onion chopped
1/2 cup celery or green pepper chopped finely (your taste preference)
1 C finely grated cheese your choice (I used colby /jack)
3/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp yellow mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 Tbl brown sugar

Remove pie crusts from fridge and let warm up about 15 minutes. In the meantime, heat oven to 450, brown burger, onion and other veg in skillet. Drain off grease. Add ketchup, mustard, garlic powder and brown sugar to meat mix and stir until blended well. Once it starts bubbling, cook on simmer about 20 minutes. As mixture is cooking, place a crust in pie plate, trim edges, prick bottom and sides and bake in oven 5-10 minutes until just slightly brown. (this helps with bottom crust not being gummy when meat is baked in it.) When meat mix is done and crust is out of the oven, fill crust with meat, sprinkle with cheese then run finger with water on it around crust edge so top crust will stick since you can’t flute it. Place top crust on, vent it a couple places and bake 15 minutes or until top crust is brown.

* Now pie recipes you don’t grease your pie plate, but with this I used a little Pam to keep bottom crust from sticking.

[Jean]

Good Evening! It’s been another gloomy cold day in my neighborhood. Rain and/or snow is to come during the night and into tomorrow. We are on the edge so may not get anything. We had over $10,000 to count and record this morning at church, and we balanced on the first try. The office was closed because they follow the school calendar, and there was no school today. Stupid imo! Anyhow, my computer was up to snuff for a nice change of pace. It was peaceful and quiet in my room, except the phone rang nonstop out in the main office. I stopped at the bank afterwards then dropped checks off at the hospital. Tomorrow is Bob’s surgery which cancels out my going to the annual hospital volunteer luncheon. We are supposed to be trained or updated on hospital policies and the latest in health care. I will get a written copy to sign that I read it. I asked if I could have carry out on the lunch, was just kidding. It is held in a church across the street from the hospital. He has to be at the hospital at 9, surgery is at 10:30, and when he asked when he could go home the nurse said probably around 2/2:30. It will be a long “waiting” time.

“Gma,” I know you are excited to have the baseball season starting! Do you follow any team besides the Cubs? I remember installing iTunes on my laptop. I sure hope it never disappears! The previous gift shop treasurer had the spreadsheet and just emailed it to me when I took over. I can keep the books any way I like. They are never audited which I find strange. Each day the volunteer director (my boss) makes a copy of the daily log sheet, which is identifying the item sold, price, and whether it is cash, payroll deducted, or a credit card charge. She leaves $20 in the register then rest of the money, along with a daily copy go in an envelope marked for that date. The employees have to sign a separate sheet with the amount to be deducted from their pay. At the end of the week that sheet goes to the accountant, a copy to the volunteer director, and I get a copy. I pick up the five envelopes and invoices to pay and come home to count the money for deposit, and pay invoices. We have different buyers who are more into decorating than when I first started, so the whole process is more involved with more vendors, etc. We didn’t take take credit cards until a couple years ago. Thanks for the recipe, I am going to fix it!

Bob wants to watch the final basketball game. I have enjoyed watching them too, mainly to see some of the uniforms that look like babies sleepers and the goofy hairstyles on some of the players.

Enjoy the rest of your evening!

[gma22]

Good morning. Going to be near 80 here today but we are supposed to get rain. That will just make it sticky feeling. Ugh.

Nothing exciting going on today. I need to get some housework done and think about a couple knitting projects I can start. One is for this cool round basket. I bought a kit but have to look for it.

I ordered a bag for my yarn and supplies from the mother of a FB friend several months ago, but haven’t heard from her so guess I better check to see if she’s making it. I haven’t paid for it as she didn’t want the money up front.

Jean: Hope all goes well today. Waiting is the worst and rarely comfortable. Just take a lot to keep you busy. Just a big thanks for yesterday. I appreciate you being a friend.

Have a good day.

[Jean]

Good Morning! Bob is in surgery and I am passing the time in his room. The hospital has WiFi which is nice. We were getting snow early this morning and coming down hard when we came to the hospital.

“Gma,” I could sure some of your 80 degrees about now! This weather is something else, and it’s supposed to be the same off and on through next weekend. I got text messages from a nurse during and after surgery which was nice. I can’t imagine sitting and waiting through a long surgery. I think this was maybe 20 minutes from start to finish, if that. I brought some magazines and a card catalog to order cards for the gift shop, plus a book and my iPad. I’m not sure how long he will have to stay; until he eats and pees I suppose. The doctor just came in and said all went well and he will be sore for about a week. I’m hoping he will sleep good tonight because he’s tossed ‘n turned quite a bit the last few nights.

Hope you enjoy a sunny warm day!

[Jean]

Good Morning! The sun is shining, NO wind blowing, and it was 6 degrees when I came downstairs this morning. I slept better last night than I have in a long time. I knew I was tired but not that tired. Sitting around the hospital must be more tiring than I realized. I have Bob parked on the couch with his ice machine; he says he has no pain just some stiffness. Bob thinks the ice machine will make a nice minnow bucket. I have organized all the hospital clutter as much as I can, and a load of laundry is in the washer.

Sandy, hope the new knee is working well and you are moving around easier.

The washer should be done and ready for the next load. I need to run a couple errands, pick up some milk, and then bell practice later this afternoon. Hope you all enjoy a wonderful Wednesday!

[gma22]

Good morning all. I am going to be heading out in just a bit to get my nails done today. It is very misty and has rained but I hope it holds off while I am out and about. It is hard to try and have a cane, handbag and umbrella. I only have two hands.

We did our commissary shopping on Wednesday because Jack was off because of MLK memorial day here. I thought wow a weekday and the back gate will be open (it isn't open on the weekends.) We can get in and out really quick. Uh, no! There were tons of people and the old codgers were a pain in the neck. They would stick their carts in the middle of the aisle and walk away from them and you would then have to move them to get around. One guy just stood there and wouldn't move and no one could get around him. He ignored anyone saying excuse me too. People just got fed up and forced him to move and when they did, I whipped my electric cart around him. It was a nightmare. We get up to check out and the dingbat cashier screwed up the payment of the guy in front of us and it took about 10 minutes to straighten out the cash register. We are all done now so that is good.

My HOA payment has not come through the bank so I told Jack to call him and find out when he made the deposit because if it was Monday, I am going to reissue another check and get it in the mail and stop payment on the other one. What a pain.

Jean: I got the giggles over Bob wanting to use his machine for minnows. Jack's is a small cooler like the kind that holds 6 cans of soda. It has a hose device that goes in it with the motor thingy. You put the ice in the cooler and attach the hose device and away you go. Hope he is getting up and around now. I noticed they postponed the Iowa Cubs game. Are you guys getting more snow? This has been one weird spring so far.

I guess I better get a move on as I need to dress and such. Have a good weekend everyone. Sure hope we have some good weather. Our cars need good baths.

[Jean]

Good Afternoon! It’s another cold and very windy day in my neighborhood. The sun has tried to come out this afternoon but it has been hit and miss. I went to get my nails done first thing this morning, then ran a couple errands. A week ago Bob took my bathroom mirrors to the glass place because the backing, whatever it is called, was wearing off and the magnetic buttons were scratched and discolored. He stopped in yesterday and the guy said he was having trouble finding the same kind of hinges and so-called magnetic buttons. He had some different colored ones than the originals but Bob said I needed to stop in and pick the color. I did that this morning and the goofus hadn’t even cut the mirrors yet. I let him know they were from my bathroom and I wanted them ASAP. Miraculously he found the hinges, etc., online and said he thought he could get them done on Monday, Tuesday for sure. I hope so! He had both our phone numbers so could have called! I picked up the gift shop money, have that counted, and checks written for next week. Yesterday we made a quick trip to Sioux Falls to go bed shopping for “our” room at Jason’s, then all went out to a Chinese restaurant to celebrate Amanda being done with radiation. It was a buffet and I’ve never seen so many different kinds of Asian foods plus they even had pizza. There was a pool with pretty koi (?) fish that had an audience of small children.

“Gma,” great minds think alike when it came to nails today! We have rude shoppers here too. Amanda shared that she ordered groceries online during a meeting yesterday, then picked them up on the way home from work. She had the kids meet her in the garage to help carry things into the house. If you spend $100 or more, there is no service charge, which doesn’t take long with a family of four including two teenagers. They can even add to the shopping list with parental approval. We are supposed to get more snow, along with strong winds, on Sunday. I must admit everyone, everywhere, is complaining about the weather. Too bad we can’t do something about it! We came home with SD dirt on our car, the main side road to Jason’s is getting a new sewer line so we had to drive on a dirt/gravel detour. He said it will be an all summer project. Fun!

I need to put my paperwork away and clear off the table. In my next life I will have a big desk so I don’t have to use the kitchen table! I saw where Dancing With the Stars will feature athletes this time. I probably won’t know any of them either. Hope you enjoy a nice evening!

[Jean]

Snow, snow, and more snow today! At least is didn’t rain first.

Happy Spring!

[Jean]

Good Afternoon! It’s another cold gloomy day in my neighborhood but at least it’s not snowing. There was no school because of the snow so it was quiet at church this morning since the office was closed. We balanced on the first try and my computer was cooperative which was so appreciated. I made the gift shop deposit and dropped checks off at the hospital on my way home. This afternoon was a P.E.O. “Social” which meant we just get together and either have a speaker or go somewhere together. One of our members has an antique/candy (as in home made fudge)/wine/and dip mixes shop so she hosted us there. She gave a brief program on some of her decorative pieces, and their history; many came from remodeled buildings or local people who have down sized their homes. Bob is at church for practice and offered to cook tonight since we are out of bread and milk. I intended to stop at the store on my way home and forgot. Not sure which restaurant he will be cooking in. I need to change clothes and be ready when he comes home. Hope you all enjoy a nice evening!

[gma22]

I know I posted on here. I think my senility is kicking in and I don’t hit submit or something. I have two posts floating around. Poor Jean thinks she’s talking to herself!

Jack had an ortho appt for his hand. Nothing is being done until it gets worse. Jack says that’s ok as he has done the preliminary stuff like trying therapy, etc so when the pain is all the time maybe they’ll just do surgery then.

We have appts set up to have a hitch put on the mks and then have an electric scooter lift mounted on the back. This way we will again have trunk space and if I need to shop, I can easily use my scooter. It sure isn’t cheap though. The hitch isn’t too bad, $230, but the lift is $2200 and that includes the labor and taxes. There goes my hangbag budget for the year. We have to rearrange the garage this weekend though. Someone took the garage and cordoned off the back like they were going to put in a closet but never finished. We stuck the big rubbermaid boxes with Christmas decorations and such there but we now have to move it to other side because we need to pull the car up farther to get the extra length in. We have to see whether I will have to park the scooter on the deck with the cover over it or whether pulling it up will accomodate the lift being down with the scooter on it. We were going to have to get something sooner or later and after loooking at the fold down kind, we decided that wouldn’t be any better as I wouldn’t be able to fold it up and down and attach it, etc.

We had dinner out with friends at PF Changs on Saturday and that was nice. They live in Indiana, but he was shuffled down here with the FAA so they rent an apartment here and she goes back and forth. She still has a lot of estate stuff to wrap up on her mother and she said they put in new landscaping that has to be taken care of all summer so she’ll be up there all summer. When they are here we usually have dinner with them once a month.

Jean: How much snow did you get for them to close school? I would imagine that kkind of sop has some interesting stories. I received something after my stepaunt passed away that she had in her possession. It was a telegram from my dad to my mom’s parents saying they had a new baby girl (me.) I thought that was pretty cool.

Well off to eat lunch. Have a good day