Good morning ladies. Well it is back to rain again, but the temps are up until Saturday then the bottom drops out. They are predicting a 40 degree difference between Friday and Saturday.

I am doing a load of laundry and working on the afghan and that’s it today except for daily chores. Night before last the idiot neighbors were out in their garage all night making noise. I got no sleep. So am still trying to recoup I think. I am sitting here right now feeling sleepy. I may have to take a morning nap.

We are going to have spaghetti tonight I think. I made Jack breakfast for dinner last night just as a change of pace. I get tired of trying to think up new things he would eat.

I hope neither of you get slammed with that big snowstorm coming from the west. We are going to get heavy rain from it. At least that’s what it looks like. My bff says they have about 4 inches as of yesterday, but the main thing is it’s icy.

Jean: Cards have gotten completely ridiculous. I end up spending $10 getting the boys cards and you know they read them and throw them away. No one saves them anymore. We have a problem with Google that I have been trying to get fixed for about 5 years. If you use Google Maps and put our address in the directions, it changes it from Tulip Poplar to Star Blossom. There is No Star Blossom. Ultimately, it’s a problem getting package deliveries once in awhile. I have contacted them repeatedly to fix it but as yet they haven’t.

CeeJay: Hope you have no bad weather problems the next couple days. They sure are predicting some bad stuff in Missouri and Kansas.

Have a good one ladies!

Good Morning! We got a little snow during the night, just enough that Bob brushed off the deck and driveways. Our neighbor will be moving soon to assisted living and we own the snowblower together. Bob has been clearing her driveway for several years after her husband wasn’t able to do it any more. I went for a nail fill taking in the predicted weather/snow forecast for tomorrow. I still think the tv weathermen aren’t sure what is coming. Then a quick stop at the grocery store for what I forgot yesterday. I am getting good at that. *sigh* A load of laundry is next on my list. We have a meeting at church tonight; Bob has to give his endowment report.

Ceejay, we have had a lot of foggy mornings lately. The last one caused some slippery roads. I hope you feel better today.

”Gma,” a lady sitting next to me at the nail salon, guessing about my age, commented on much our weather has changed in the last few years. She, like me, takes what the weathermen predict with a grain of salt. Spaghetti sounds good, we have’t had that for awhile. I buy boxes of plain note cards and write my own messages if I can. I get the kids the 99 cent cards for holidays and special ones for birthdays. I try to include a special message and date those. I know Maddy saves her cards. Beth still has cards and letters my mom sent to her. When GPS first came out our street exit coming off the highway was shown on the map but it didn’t show any more but the name. They say not to put your home address on GPS in case your car is stolen. We rarely use ours unless we are going somewhere we have never been, then usually use the iPad.

I have leftover soup to warm up for lunch, Bob will be home soon. He said he was hungry for chocolate cake so maybe I will make a mini cake this afternoon and surprise him for supper. Enjoy the rest of a terrific Thursday!

Winter storm warning just issued for surrounding counties plus us. Maybe the weathermen were right this time.

Happy Friday! Another cloudy day with just a few teeny tiny snowflakes floating around. I think the weathermen cried “wolf” this time around but maybe we will still get more. This is Iowa anything can happen! I made another quick trip to the grocery store before 9:00 for bread and milk; you’d have thought the storm was going to hit at 9:30! The store was packed and that’s all people were talking about. I also stopped by the library to return a book and get another one. I didn’t want to be snowbound without a book. I am disgusted with our cable company. We were getting the game show channel which had some old, old reruns but also some shows I had never seen before. Sometimes that was all that was worth watching! All of a sudden it is gone and if we want it, another $15 on our bill. I don’t think so! I picked up the gift shop money after lunch, counted it, and Bob dropped it off at the bank, which will be closed Monday. I’ve had a couple suggestions on how to fix my email glitch on the laptop so am going to say my prayers and give them a try. Then I’m going to finish my book and maybe start the next one.

Ceejay, I made a baked spaghetti casserole for lunch today. It wasn’t as good as I remembered it. I do think my tastes are changing as I get older. It’s too bad your sister was sick on her birthday. Hope she is feeling better. We used the paper logs in our wood burning fireplace and they worked well. Bob had it converted to gas which was a waste of money. The thermostat is on the wall across from it plus the stairway in the living room, so the furnace won’t run if the fireplace is going and the heat goes up the stairs. We have a neighbor who burns wood and sometimes we can smell it. It smells so good. We do have a Dollar Tree and they are carrying Hallmark cards as is WM and one of our grocery stores. Dollar Tree seems to have some that are cheaper than the other places. We invested in a generator because we have two sump pumps, one of which pumps to the sewer. If our power goes off for very long the basement would flood. Many years ago we had rain first, then ice, then snow. Jason was still home so he and Bob baled with buckets and hauled them out to the driveway. Bob and I did it once together then decided we were to old to do that any more.

Hope you are having a sunny warm day and enjoying life! Have a nice weekend!

Good Afternoon! The sun is shining, it has warmed up to 13 from -1, and we got just a little snow, much less than predicted. I’ve done some laundry, decluttering, and readded some gift shop figures from December to prove my figures are right. The accountant shorted me about $600+ because she was missing a payroll signature sheet. I know she has it in a pile somewhere because I personally sent it up to her. My “boss” made her another copy. I don’t want to meet with her without having my ducks in a row. I came up with the same figures three times, good enough for me!

Ceejay, your weather sounds like what we were supposed to get. I’m convinced weather affects muscles and joints. Hope your hip is feeling better.

I need to put my gift shop books away and iron clothes for church tomorrow. We have couples card club tomorrow night. I have a luncheon Monday and ladies card club that night. Ian has a game Tuesday. I work the gift shop Wednesday. That’s as far as I can remember! Enjoy the rest of your day!

Good Afternoon! It’s another cold, 2 degree cloudy day, the kind of cold that goes right through your coat. The church was cold this morning too; I went and got my coat! We tried a different restaurant in a nearby town for breakfast. After getting “raw” bacon last week, this place knows how to fix well done, crispy bacon! It was delicious! We will have supper at card club, so no cooking here today. I just spent what seemed like hours jumping through the hoops, AGAIN, to my get email fixed on the laptop. SUCCESS finally! I had to set up an alternative email account in order to get a verification code, one I had many, many years ago but was closed because I rarely used it. I was smart enough to write down my new password! I was able to keep my gmail email address which was good.

I have some laundry to fold so better get that done. Enjoy the rest of your day!

Good Afternoon! It’s another bitterly cold windy day in my neighborhood but the sun came out after lunch. Church counting went well this morning except the office was so cold my hands were cold the whole time I was there. I went to a P.E.O. social lunch (no meeting in January so we have lunch together to catch up after the holidays) then home to warm up again. I have card club tonight and know I will be going out in the cold after dark. So glad I can remote start the car before I leave to come home. Last night when we went to play cards we could see the flashing emergency lights across the lake. It turns out a car went through the ice; a man and a child died while two other children were airlifted to a Sioux Falls hospital. There have been no details as to who or why yet. Sad if an unavoidable accident, dumb if he deliberately went out on the lake.

Ceejay, you are smart to plan your menu. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to planning meals. We are on the go so much that when I try to plan we either eat leftovers forever, or I’m missing ingredients because I didn’t check beforehand. Not smart, I know. The two things about the “raw” undercooked bacon is that we had the waiter I don’t especially care for and he didn’t write “well done/crispy” on the order ticket. Once he brought our food he never came back near us so I could point the undercooked bacon to him. Next time I will ask for a different area of the restaurant and wait if I have to. The gals all get it right for me! So far the laptop is letting me into my email. I even wrote my new password down “just in case.”

I have some laundry to fold so better get it done. Then a cup of hot cider! Enjoy the rest of your day!

Good Morning! Another night of not sleeping the best, kept waking up for some reason. This is getting old! It’s a gloomy morning in my neighborhood but there is no wind blowing. We are supposed to have freezing drizzle turning to snow this afternoon. Ian has a game but we will decide, depending on what the weather is doing, whether or not to go. I have to work in the gift shop tomorrow otherwise we could stay overnight. I have lots of things I can do today, mainly clean. The guy came to look at the shower, tile needs to be replaced. What he wants to use, and the sample he brought, is shaded gray and looks kind of marbley. I’m not a fan of gray even though I know it is the “in” color right now. I wanted white and white doesn’t come in the size tile he is recommending we use. My atomic temperature clock said it was 38 degrees this morning. Haha! Noticed the batteries need to be replaced and have none on hand of course. Bob has to get on a ladder to change the outside part so not sure if that will happen today. Wish I had a nickel for every time I have looked at it this morning. I finally took it down! I need to get moving and accomplish something today! Have a terrific Tuesday and enjoy your day!

Good afternoon. I have had issues being able to post here. When I get in, the page jumps all over the place and I can’t post. Looks like whatever was going on has settled down. Didn’t do much today. I was having trouble with my knee so slept downstairs last night. It was ok, but I feel kind of worn out.

We filed our taxes and I got a notice that they accepted them. Memphis has an Irs office so our taxes stay here in town. They called 1000 workers back in to the Memphis office to start doing the taxes and 18000 overall. The Irs website said it is processing our return so we shall see how long it takes.

I need to go out tomorrow and get my nails done but it is supposed to rain so I may wait until Thursday. Friday is my Social Security appointment. I’ll be glad when that’s done.

I have been fighting with billing at my doctor’s office about 4 charges. Well, come to find out 3 of them were before I went to Medicare and Tricare upped their copays. The clinic didn’t keep up with the changes and under charged me so I mailed them the $24 dollars I owed them. I did tell them it is their responsibility to keep up with changes. The other charge was after I went on Medicare and the clinic somehow didn’t bill my second payer, Tricare for Life. I told them to refile because I didn’t owe the $102.60. Hopefully they will straighten it out. Funny thing is they never wrote me a letter or called me just kept billing me. I told them to contact me about what was going on and explain it to me and they never did. Sheesh.

It is in the 40’s now but it gets pretty chilly at night. At least we don’t have snow.

Jean: A friend posted on FB that the area in Alaska where she used to live with her husband it was minus 53 degrees there today. I hate limp undercooked bacon. Like you, I want it crispy. We used to have a Perkins close by several years ago and one of the waiters would bring us a stack of bacon instead of 2-3 slices. Enough I took leftovers home and made blts with it. They closed it about 6 yrs ago. We have to drive across town now. You’s think there’d be a ton of places to eat breakfast here but not much. We’ve lost 2 Perkins, 3-4 Ihops, both Bob Evans. We have a couple more funky places the college kids go to, but they’re too crowded. Hope you didn’t get rain that caused slippery conditions like my friend did in IN.

CeeJay: I miss the boys being small and my great nieces and nephews live a long way from us. In fact, I have 3 great great nieces and one great great nephew on the way, but they live up in Indianapolis. We’ll see them in April when we visit their grandparents. I hope your sister is feeling better.

Everyone have a good afternoon. I have to rustle up the ingredients for sloppy joes tonight.

Good Afternoon! The sun is shining and the snow is melting, before the deep freeze moves in tomorrow! I sold a few things in the gift shop this morning but both it and the coffee shop were slow. I forgot my magazines so the time seemed to drag. Bob came for lunch in the cafeteria then I dropped a box off at the UPS store and came home. I’m playing phone tag with a gal trying to set up a visit schedule for the manor. I’d just as soon skip it but this is “our” month to visit and time is running out. Bell practice is later this afternoon.

“Gma,” every once in awhile when I start to type, the page will flip clear down to the bottom. Glad you got your billing straightened out. We had a gift card charge on a credit card bill for $67. The card is in my name but Bob uses it for business and pays the bill. He couldn’t remember what, or if, he bought a gift card. Of course, they wouldn’t tell him anything even though he is authorized to use the card. So I play the menu game and finally get a live person. I got Bob authorized to question any charges then asked about the gift card charge. The guy said he would have to call another number, could I wait. It was time for me to head to the hospital so I asked him to leave a message on my phone. He couldn’t do that because of security so I called back this afternoon. It seems the purchase was for theater tickets which in checking the calendar, I have nothing written down. So will let Mr. B decide the next move when he gets home. We evidently got something wet during the night because our driveway was glazed this morning. The paper said they found another vehicle in the lake when they were trying to get the SUV out, that makes three. The sheriff has banned all vehicles from going out on the ice as it is measuring different thicknesses all over. We had open water at one point during the 40 degree days. My question would be how would a visitor know there is a ban, as well as some of the locals who don’t get a newspaper, listen to the local radio station, or watch tv news.

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful sunny Wednesday!

Evening ladies! We are winding down for theevening watching live PD. When we left the SS office we came home and picked up my scooter and went shopping at Fresh Market. Got everything on my list except taco lettuce, came home and put stuff in fridge and went to Hueys for dinner. Jack wanted nachos, which are murder for me. I end up eating too many. This time I didn’t and had fish and chips for dinner. They screwed up Jack’s sandwich so we had to wait for them to remake it correctly. They put lettuce and mayo and he wanted mustard and onions. Wasn’t the waiter’s fault but the cooks. Jack hates even the smell of mayo. We came home and tucked in for the night.

Jack has an 8 AM appointment to get new tires. Geez louise, $1300!! Then Sunday afternoon we’ll finish up grocery shopping. I have a waxing appt Tuesday and my mammo on Friday. We are supposed to have bad weather on Friday. I hope I can get it done and back home before snow starts.

Jean: That’s too bad about the credit card. Hope you can get it straightened out. Does the cafeteria have pretty good food? Why would idiots drive out on the lake, especially in the dark? I know men do it to go ice fishing, but pretty stupid at night imo. I think they should post around the lake about danger on driving out on lake.

Everyone have a good evening!