I'm back again . . . just brought a load of clothes upstairs and decided to check in. The schools west of us that started two hours late were dismissing right after lunch according to the TV this noon. It was clear and very little wind here around 10:00, but the wind has picked up and is blowing the snow around. I really can't tell if it is snowing again or if it is just blowing snow that fell this morning.
Susan -- Are the books, "The Cat Who . . ." for adults or children? The quilt sounds interesting. My goal this week is to visit the at least every other day. Since the snow has returned I won't be walking outside for awhile.
Gail -- My drive to school is less than 3 miles; it takes 7 minutes if I don't get caught behind a slow driver or at the stop lights. The weather really isn't a problem since it is highway driving. Someone told Bob that when he retires the paychecks quit coming. I'm sure it will be an adjustment since I've either been in school myself, sent my children off to school, or been teaching when school starts in the fall. I can identify with what you are going through with your parents. I was lucky in that my dad was able to care for my mom at home. We lived about 3 hours away and Beth was still in school at the time. When my dad got sick either his wife or I stayed with him in the hospital at night. It wasn't "fun," but I sure don't regret a minute of it. You are lucky to have your brother and uncle there to help your dad when you are home. I do hope your mom can get stronger and feel more like herself again.
Maggie -- We are having wind big time! I guess that is what the weatherman meant when he said we were in a blizzard/wind advisory. Did anyone else get sick from the food that you ate last night? I hope that you are feeling a lot better! That is definitely not the way one wants to spend the night! When we had our budget meeting, the principal said that the school board wasn't planning any layoffs right now. However, as staff either retired or left the district they would look at consolidating programs and perhaps not rehire for that position. We'd be ok if the district hadn't taken over all of the programs that the federal government funded to get started and then pulled the funding. We are building a new elementary building to consolidate four buildings and grades K - 4 together. Several of us have discussed whether they will need 4 secretaries, 4 media center librarians, 4 tech. lab aides, etc. I didn't count but someone said there are 60 IAs at the middle school alone. We have 10 at the high school right now.
I need to do some much needed ironing. Have a nice "rest of the day." Stay warm!
JEAN Thank you for starting a new thread ~ we were getting long. Our wind here is 60 mph gusts plus. I sure do hope that the schools don't have big lay offs because those kids needs need to be met in the education department without the teachers being overloaded. I haven't heard of anyone else in our group that got sick but we all orderd diffent things. I feel fine now and that is why I KNOW it wasn't the flu because when I got rid of my stomach contents it all went away. I am back to exact this day.
Can't quite say good morning yet, except to Susan and Gail and Gloria! lol The new neighbors are a rude and noisy bunch and woke me up. I got up to go to the bathroom and was uncomfortable with my back so came downstairs and sat in the chair. I decided to get up and balance the checkbook as our main bank branch is in Va so the online site updates around 11 pm my time. I then sat and read all the posts from today.
Gail: Honey, you hang in there. I know what it is like to have to do through what you are going through. My mom was diabetic and had a disgusting husband (not my father.) They had a dairy farm and my mom was basically his farm hand. She had been in and out of hospitals the last 18 months of her life having had pieces of her foot removed little by little because of the disease. I was the only one of us that went and sat with her day in and day out though I had two sisters who lived where I lived, a brother that lived about 90 miles away. Anyway, about a month before she died, she was in the hospital with an infection again and the doctor had gathered us all up (they showed up when they wanted to be in the know) and told us she needed to have her foot amputated to save her life. He could do no more cutting of toes and such as it wasn't helping. My disreputable step father told him he was NOT to tell mother this then when the dr walked away told us that if any of us told her what the dr said he would make sure she wanted nothing to do with us and he could do it (he could to as she was totally under his thumb.) He didn't want her foot cut off because it would keep her from working the farm like a slave. I decided I was going to find a way to talk to her no matter what. A week before she died, my dd came home for her bridal shower and we went down to see mom because mom couldn't go. I decided to give it a try and did a back door about did she know that if she didn't take care of herself she could lose her foot? Did she ask the dr what he recommended etc, etc. My dd had her bridal show, flew back to Memphis and mom died the following Monday. I never made it down there before she died. My pig of a step brother called me at work and said they were taking her to the hospital. I won't go into anymore, suffice it to say she was laying in a hospital room covered up, already gone and her gown, socks and such were filthy. I was enraged, grief stricken and would have gladly strangled that man right then and there if it hadn't been that my dear sweet Jack showed up at the hospital about that time. He was working in Chicago and had just gotten to work and had to turn around and come home (a 2 hour drive each way.) Anway, I know what it is like to sit alone with your thoughts and your worries, but honey, you must take better care of yourself for yourself and your family. There are some things that we can control and some things only God can control. We have to let go of the things we can't control no matter how hard they are to do. I continue to pray for your mom and your family.
Jean: Hope the bad weather has now moved through. I know Jay was supposed to get hit with a lot of snow yesterday. I never did call him and find out. I need to do that today sometime. We got our military license plates, found out the law had changed so now instead of having plates both due at the same time, they are due when you first purchased them! Yahoo, I won't have $400 worth of tags to pay for all at once in August, but have August and then January. We also got the military sticker and it is good until 1-2013 so don't have to worry about it for a long while now. The cat books are for adults. They are about a small town older man who is a reporter and inherited a fortune. He has two siamese cats that help him solve mysteries out and about where he lives. As for my neighbor, she and her mother are both black, but there is something they cook that makes my house smell like a Chinese restaurant, but in a nasty way.
Maggie: Hope you are feeling a bit better. Food poisoning is no picnic. I know, I had it right after Thanksgiving and still don't know where I got it as no one else in the family became sick, but me. I always worry when I am having one of my coughing spells or rolling around the bed because I am uncomfortable that I will disturb Jack, but rarely is that the case. I am one of the few wives who relish their husband snoring. If he is snoring or making noise, I know he is alive. It might be over 2 years since his bypass, but I still touch him in the night if he is silent to make sure he is breathing. Fortune snores sometimes. Yorkies tend to have respiratory problems and he sleeps under the covers all the time.
Susan: I can guarantee you I wouldn't make Dog the Bounty Hunter's wife Beth the character of Stephanie. She is something else. I actually like the show and am impressed that they pray before they go out to catch the bad guys (even though they have mouths like sewers sometimes,) but that woman's wardrobe. She dresses like a white Lula. She stuffs herself in clothes too tight and too young. I did notice that the new season starts in a week or so and she has lost quite a bit of weight. I think Mo'nique would make a good Lula. She is a comedian and a big gal and could pull it off. There is a guy from the Sopranos that would be perfect for Vinnie, I think. His name is Tony Sirico. I can never quite figure out whether Ranger is supposed to be a black man or a hispanic man. What do you think? Good luck with your "cat" quilt. That will be quite cute when finished I imagine. You should post a picture of it.
Well, it has finally quieted down next door. I guess I will get a drink and go back to the chair. Fortune is sleeping on his favorite sofa pillow, but I imagine when I stand up he will jump down so he can come and sleep with me in my lap.
Faye
I am off to Va. Beach again. Dad phoned me last night after Mom's doctor phoned him (around 10:30pm) and Mom has been put back into ICU. She developed pneumonia and her blood pressure is low. I don't know how long I will be down there but I'm just about packed. So, if I disappear for a little while, y'all know where I am.
Thank you, Donna Faye, for your kind words and advice. I am so sorry what you went through with your Mom. I am so fortunate to have Wayne--he understands how I feel as he went through a terrible ordeal when his Mom passed away--but on the other hand he's become very protective of me and insists that I come home to recharge. My plan now is to go down to Va. Beach, be with my Mom, to see for myself how things are, be with Dad, and if she's stabilized I may return home by Thursday or Friday. Amazingly, I did get some sleep last night although I took a Tylenol PM to help me. I hate taking any kind of medication but thought it would relax me enough to drift off...and it did.
Maggie, I'm glad you're feeling better. Thank you for the sweet emails as they make me smile looking at all the sweet pictures...and thanks for the prayers. Please keep my Mom (and Dad, too) on your church's prayer list. Put me on it also. When I was in church on Sunday, I honestly didn't think I was going to make it through the service as I have a tendency to cry when old hymns are sung. I know that the Lord is with me but it's still so gosh darn difficult. I want to be happy again.
Jean, you're still going to like retirement! Thankfully, I get a pension check every month. Because you work at a school, you should get a state pension?
Susan, thank you so much for your offer to help. One of these days you and I will meet.
Good Evening, Flowers! The snow is coming down really heavy now; an hour ago I had to look twice to find the flakes. I'm sick of snow! We had a two hour late start this morning so kids were going on Monday's pe/sh schedule this morning. It's so cold, -11 this morning, and I have been cold all day even though I dressed warm knowing the building would be colder after the long weekend. Bob has a dinner meeting tonight so it is just Ernie and me for awhile.
"Gma" -- I hope you were able to get some sleep during the night! Our partying neighbors have slowed down a bit, but I do know what you are going through with noisey, inconsiderate neighbors. I had to at Fortune sleeping under the covers. Ernie really likes it when I preheat the bed, but he stays on top of the electric blanket. Every once in awhile a widow will write to Dear Abby and say that she would give anything to hear her husband snore again. Bob snores sometimes and if I just touch him, he will quit. I will have to look for the cat books!
Gail -- We do have IPERs which is the state retirement account. I did stop by the social security office on my way home from school today. If I retire now it won't make a whole lot of difference, moneywise, than if I wait until I'm 66. I'm sorry about your mom. Just know that we are all thinking of you!
I need to call my "mom" for our biweekly chat. Have a nice evening and a wonderful Wednesday tomorrow!
Good morning to you all! It is cold here this morning, but nothing like what Jean has thank goodness! It is in the
30's this morning.
Gail: You just keep your chin up and know we are thinking about you!
Jean: I feel for you with the snow, but it looks like you have more coming your way if Indiana is anything to look at. It is showing them having snow all week so I imagine you will get it first, poor thing. Don't you just hate being cold all the time. I walk around in a big old sweater at home all the time and sometimes it just gets the best of me and I crank up the heat. I hate to do that because then the utility bill is outrageous, but sometimes I just have to get warm. I usually crank on the electric blanket then when it warms the bed turn it off. I end up with the sweats at night, especially my head so I have to put the fan on low every night anyway. I think you would enjoy Lillian Jackson Braun's books. They are an easy read and quite enjoyable. I heard several years ago that someone else is writing her books now as she passed away. I doubt that is true as her picture is always on her books and I don't see how they could get away using that. She is in her 80's I believe, though. I know one of my favorite authors, Dick Francis, has his son writing with him now. I think he comes up with the ideas with his son then either the son or a secretary transcribes or writes it as Dick is also in his 80's. I know his last book, which was this last year was the same good stuff it has always been so his son has the same talent.
I ran some errands yesterday, did my cleaning and fixed dinner last night. Nothing exciting. My days are pretty repetitious for the most part, but I don't mind that at all. I don't miss working.
I goofed up my tickers trying to change them so have to start from scratch. That is why I usually give up using them. Ahh well, I guess I will start over with them and see.
We are supposed to go out to dinner with the kids a week from Saturday. Thomas has his cub scout pine wood derby that day so I hope he does well. I imagine he is becoming "spot" free once again having gone over the bump with his chicken pox.
You gals have a great day. I am going to get up and get some shoes on and run the trash out to the corner. You never know when they will come so you have to get it out early and I don't like taking it out the night before. Too easy for someone to go through it.
I can feel the temperature dropping. The temperature now is "cold." Ragg Mopp got his hair grooming done yesterday and he looks like he shrunk. He is so cute right after his hair cut. Well he is always cute but especially after a bath and a trim. In the summer we take him every two weeks but in the winter it is every three weeks. The groomer had another one in yesterday that looked just like ole Ragg Mopp. Well Will is off in search of a new coffee pot. Seems we get one every six months. No matter what the kind they all seem to lose their heating quality in that amount of time. Mo hotta mo betta. It showed I was up a huge point 4 at weigh in. I never do well after missing a week.
JEAN You can keep your snow. We get a tiny skiff here (so far) and it whisks itself away in the wind. Thinking more about retiring are you?
DONNA I think it is so neat that you can meet your loved ones for a meal out. I imagine those chicken pox didn't slow that oh so talented grandkid of yours down one bit. My days around here are a pattern of each other also except on church days. Not much to explore in this weather.
Everyone stay warm and healthy. I am baking sweet potatoes this day and also baking a couple ceter cut Schwans pork chops. Green beans, oat bran muffins and a nice green salad with balsamic spritzer on it and what a nice filling low point meal. I make the muffins in the small amounts so they are only one point each. I have three of those mini muffin bendable thingies to bake them in. What happens is that a recipe for a muffin tin for 6 but using the same amount of batter makes 24 little ones. So if the muffin starts out being 4 points walla ~ it is reduced to a bite for 1 point. I have recipes that are lower points than 4 per muffin but this is a box of Jiffy that Will got at Wall-Mart. Some of my recipes are two little ones for one point.
Good afternoon, ladies! Cold and getting colder - now you can laugh, it's in the 20s.
I forgot to post yesterday! It was a busy day at work, then I went to dinner with my friends and after that quilt guild meeting. I'm meeting a friend at Wendy's tonight and then we are going to a quilting bee. Good thing I went to Curves and earned 3 APs.
Faye, for some reason I got it in my head that Ranger is Puerto Rican. I hope you are staying warm. I keep my heat down but I put it up a little tonight. Cupid likes to sleep on top the electric blanket, too. Must feel good to his old bones like it does mine. I know Thomas will do great with his pine wood derby entry. Maybe your neighbors are cooking chitlins.
Gail, I'm so sorry your mother had to go back in the ICU. I'll keep her and you and your family on our prayer list.
Maggie, can I come for supper? I don't envy you the snow! You'll have that .4 and more off by next meeting.
Jean, Be sure you read the books in order because they continue the story from one to the other.
Good Evening, Flowers! It is -13 as I type, with a wind chill of -32 . . . way too cold! The forecast is for -25 although I doubt we get that low. I am so ready for spring . . . it is lighter later by one minute every day! We had another two hour late start today. This has been a crazy week at school.
"Gma" -- I will trade temperatures with you! Your 30 degrees sounds like a heat wave up here tonight. I remember the Pine Wood Derby days! In fact I just gave Jason his cars that he and Bob made together. He even won one year. You mentioned tickers . . . what are they? Do you have to recycle or does everything go in the trash together? We probably have discussed that topic and my mind is blank.
Maggie -- You will have the small gain gone in no time. Yes, I am seriously thinking about retirement. Between social security and IPERs, I will make just about what I make now except I won't have to work all day to earn it. Your menu sounds good! I love muffins of any kind and haven't made them in a very long time.
Susan -- You had a busy day yesterday and another one today! Bob asked what I would do all day if and when I retire. My first thought was that I would just stay home and enjoy not having a set schedule! I know that once the church secretary and hospital volunteer coordinator find out, I can be busy every day helping at either place. Thanks for the book tip.
Since I was late getting home from bell choir, I've got to pick up the kitchen and then I'm heading off to bed. Have a terrific Thursday tomorrow!
Good early morning ladies. The dog woke me up and I found I was a bit uncomfortable so I decided to just come downstairs. The house doesn't seem to be freezing so I guess it isn't too cold out. I know it warmed up yesterday into the low 50's but it sure was windy. The wind chime was tinkling merrily all day.
Maggie: Your dinner sounds yummy! I made beef and noodles last night for dinner using the tiny egg noodles and a small piece of sirloin cut up. Fortune goes a week from today to the groomers and boy does he need it. He has his yearly exam and shots on Friday so I wanted him to be presentable. He is going to have his "cousin" come and stay for a week in March. That should be interesting. Kelly and Tom's yorkie is super hyper and we are going to keep him while they go on a cruise with Thomas for a week to Mexico. I always get nervous when they take T out of the country. I don't know why, but I sure do.
Susan: I think you are right, I think Ranger is Puerto Rican. I don't know what that woman makes but is sure is disgusting smelling and permeates the whole darn condo. Jack said something to me last night when he went up to his office that the house stunk and was she cooking again. I told him sure smelled like it. I have those airwick things all over my downstairs AND I have those infusers in the living room and bathroom and stll the smell lingers. I can't stand my house having a bad smell, but there isn't much I can do about it.
Jean: The tickers are the little things you put at the bottom of your signature to show how much weight you have lost and such. I went back to change mine and goofed it up then couldn't fix it correctly so I am now going to have to redo them if I want to put them back up. I haven't decided whether I want to mess with them or not. I think we decided we would lose about $500-700 a month when Jack retires, mostly due to increase in medical costs for us because of having to go to stupid medicare. Our premiums right now are $460 a YEAR and when Jack becomes medicare age and he has to change from Tricare Prime to Tricare for life, we end up having to pay something like $93 a month for him alone. Ahh well, there is nothing I can do about it. I got a notice yesterday that my lfe insurance is going up $10 now too. It is just enough to pay for my burial expenses since I don't contribute an income to the household. Did you get the new Penney's spring and summer catalogue? I got ours yesterday.
Well gals, I am going to go and try and catch another few hours in the chair I guess. Fortune just came downstairs so I will have a partner in the recliner I am sure.
Another of my friends died last night, a very close friend. Last Thursday she woke up at 4am with terrible pain in her arm so her husband took her to the emergency room. They found she had 2 blood clots there so put her in the ICU on blood thinners. Then they thought she had some cardiac issues so they transferred her to the heart hospital in Norfolk. Monday they found she had a hole in her heart that she has probably had since birth so they scheduled her for surgery. When they went to do the surgery on Tuesday they put a camera in to look at her heart closely and found a huge blood clot. The canceled surgery and put her on even more blood thinners. Last night she died.
Faye, Jack would have to hire someone to do the cleaning you do and everyone would have to buy sweaters and hats - you are worth a lot more, a million at least.
Jean, I remember that bitter cold from my time in Ohio and thank you, I want no more of it. I'd be retired if I had your deal not putting up with the brats.
It is a rather chilly day here in the heartland. Spitting a skiff of snow. We have yet to have any that stays around. They installed a new fan in that freezer and it has started to sound like a helocopter again so we are going to get a different one and they can come pick this one up. I think it may be a design flaw in where the fan goes. For breakfast (brunch) I ate a boiled egg, 3 one point oat muffins, and a can of hot V8 and also one of those little oranges from Florida they call Cuties. For dinner I am making stuffed baked potatoes and a large veggie salad spritzed with balsamic. This is an 18 point day and I am sticking to it. I have lots of cleaned veggies in the fridge if I feel a snack attack and some low low point popcorn. This is going to work Tomorrow early I go for blood work and my mem-e-o-gram. I'll be so glad when 10 am comes because it will all be over for another year. The blood draw is the easy part. Did I tell you Ragg Mopp looks so cute with his hair cut ~ well he does.
DONNA When I was forced to go on Medicare my state rep told me NOT to go on their perscription program so I have parts A & B of Medicare and the state (of CA) pays for part of it for me and I get my meds through their program which is the lowest in the land, surprisingly so. I send my perscriptions to a place in NV and they fill them 3 months at a time for a year then I go back to the doctor for blood work and new perscriptions. And since I didn't pay into SS for enough quarters this is done through Wills SS number. If I wasn't married to a person that had enough quarters I could have kept my Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance in its entirety and not of had to get Medicare at all. The rates for that insruance varried year to year depending how they did with the bit of money they invested. Some years our health insurance didn't cost anything. When I worked I didn't pay into SS but I paid into what is called "saftey retirement" which was for peace officers. That is what pays my retirement for I am not on SS. The only SS I paid into was when I was young and had those jobs helping me get through school. Now I know you just really wanted to hear all of that.
SUSAN That is so sad about your friend. I wonder why they never noticed a hole in her heart for all those years. That is just so sad. What age person was she? This is going to be a cold year that goes down in history it seems. Frigid temps across the nation. Burrr.
Maggie, apparently lots of people are walking around with holes in their heart that they don't know about. If it's small when you are born, your body gets used to what it has to do to keep it working so unless you have other problems, it's never found. Makes me feel real good, but that what her husband told me this afternoon. She was 60. To tell you the truth, it wasn't a bad way to die, at least it was better than having some painful disease or being in a nursing home for months or years, etc. She feel down the stairs about 2 months ago and the doctor thinks that what started the blood clots. They aren't doing an autopsy so I guess we'll never know for sure.
Good Afternoon/Evening, Flowers! It is still light out!!!!! It is still COLD out!!!!! It was -23 when I left for school this morning and -13 when I came home this afternoon. Anything above 0 sounds "warm" right now! I'm so thankful the wind isn't blowing hard. I think I've pretty much settled into a routine for the semester and it's pretty "ho hum." My study hall students all get along (no yahoos from last semester) and I can usually find a few minutes to call my own. It almost makes me rethink signing a contract for next year. I have a house I need to pick up so that is next on my list. Bob is at church for practice and won't be home until later.
"Gma" -- I knew that I should know what tickers are! CRS, ya know? I can't remember the name of the insurance, but my dad was a retired USAF Lt. Colonel and whatever military medical insurance he had paid for everything. After he married my stepmom, she was on it too and pays nothing now. She often tells me how thankful she is for that insurance. I do think it might supplement Medicare, but I'm not sure. I haven't gotten my spring Penney's catalog yet. I've used my credit card enough I should get one.
Susan -- I'm so sorry about your friend's death! It is so hard when one thinks there isn't anything seriously wrong and then all he** breaks loose. I, too, would have thought a doctor would have noticed the hole in her heart just from a regular check-up. We always thought Ohio had pretty mild winters compared to what we were used to here. We were close to the lake so that might have made a difference. I just remember it was usually cloudy and they issued smog alerts regularly. The locals would panic at 2" of snow.
Maggie -- What all did you put on your baked potato? I just never make them at home and know it would be easy to do. It sounds like you have a good insurance plan.
I'm off to declutter! Have a nice evening and a FANTASTIC Friday tomorrow.
Good morning to you all! It is freezing cold for this part of the country this morning, though I wouldn't trade my kids temp, which is -16 with a windchill around -40 below this morning.
I talked to my sister yesterday and she said all the parents were up in arms because they had school yesterday. She can't do anything about it, she works for transportation, but they were chewing her out about it. Parents should put up a stink where it belongs down at school city and if they feel their kids are in jeopardy, just keep them home and call the principal and tell him or her why they aren't coming to school.
Susan: I am so very, very sorry at the loss of another friend. You seem to have a lot of friends who have sudden demises over things they have no control over. I know it has to be hard on you. I watch that "How Clean is your House" all the time and I told Jack I thought if something happened to me, he would end up like that. Especially the toilets! lol I imagine Merry Maids would be in the house in short order, that's for sure.
Maggie: Glad you are again doing well with your WW. It is such a struggle. Like I told Jack once, if you have another addiction, pills, illegal drugs, cigarettes, even gambling, you have to go and get them and bring them into the house or with gambling, go where the gambling is, but there is ALWAYS food in the house. People desperate to eat will eat just about anything. I had a friend years and years ago that said when she didn't have anything in the house sweet to eat or whatever, she would put globs of peanut butter on top of a bowl of cereal! UGH! That doesn't excuse us, we still have to have the guts to work on it, but our addiction is always readily available.
Jean: I know you have to be freezing to death this morning. Hopefully, they called off school today for you. Back in the ole days, we had CHAMPUS. We paid no premiums and it was a straight 80%-20% of allowable charges. Thing was, most charges were chopped up. For example, a dr visit might be $65 if you paid for it, but champus would only pay $12 which they considered the allowable charge, then they would only pay 80% of that and you were on the hook for the other 20%. So if we had been on the old CHAMPUS, our hospital bills would have been outrageous for us to pay back. A decade or so ago, they developed Tricare. They have several different types. Tricare Standard is the old champus, Tricare Prime is an HMO type where you pay a premium and do copays, then Tricare for Life is for Medicare individuals, which is what we will adopt once we become Medicare age. When Jack is Medicare age and I am still not, I will pay a single premium for Tricare Prime for me, which is $75 per quarter and Jack goes on Tricare for Life, which is basically the Tricare Standard. They become secondary to Medicare. So from what Gloria has told me, we pay the Medicare monthly payment of I think it is around $94, don't pay anything for Tricare for Life, and she said it pretty much covers what Medicare doesn't so we aren't out a lot of out of pocket. I believe we can keep our current prescription plan as is, which is $3 for generic and $6 for brand name. We current pay out $460 a year in premiums and when Jack becomes medicare age, we will be paying out, $300 in premiums plus around $1130 a year for Medicare. That is a cost difference of $970. Now Jack's military retirement will remain the same, but he only receives 35% of his yearly city income as a pension. Then whatever he draws for social security. That plus the extra $970 makes it much more tight than what we live on now so I am trying to make sure everything is paid off, credit cards, car payments, mortgage, etc., by the time he retires in 6 1/2 years. I think I figured out we would be making around $600-700 a month less, which is fine, especially since the mortgage and such should be paid off.
Well, I am dawdling. I need to mop floors today and have to get them swept first, which always seems to kill my back so I take it in stages.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and can keep warm. Looks like we start warming back up tomorrow thank goodness!
Faye (with only 1 here in Memphis)
Steel Magnolias -- #4
The schools west of us that started two hours late were dismissing right after lunch according to the TV this noon. It was clear and very little wind here around 10:00, but the wind has picked up and is blowing the snow around. I really can't tell if it is snowing again or if it is just blowing snow that fell this morning.
My goal this week is to visit the 
at least every other day. Since the snow has returned I won't be walking outside for awhile. 
My drive to school is less than 3 miles; it takes 7 minutes if I don't get caught behind a slow driver or at the stop lights. The weather really isn't a problem since it is highway driving. Someone told Bob that when he retires the paychecks quit coming. 
I'm sure it will be an adjustment since I've either been in school myself, sent my children off to school, or been teaching when school starts in the fall. I can identify with what you are going through with your parents. 
I was lucky in that my dad was able to care for my mom at home. We lived about 3 hours away and Beth was still in school at the time. When my dad got sick either his wife or I stayed with him in the hospital at night. It wasn't "fun," but I sure don't regret a minute of it. You are lucky to have your brother and uncle there to help your dad when you are home. I do hope your mom can get stronger and feel more like herself again. 
When we had our budget meeting, the principal said that the school board wasn't planning any layoffs right now. However, as staff either retired or left the district they would look at consolidating programs and perhaps not rehire for that position. We'd be ok if the district hadn't taken over all of the programs that the federal government funded to get started and then pulled the funding. 
We had a two hour late start this morning so kids were going on Monday's pe/sh schedule this morning. It's so cold, -11 this morning, and I have been cold all day even though I dressed warm knowing the building would be colder after the long weekend. Bob has a dinner meeting tonight so it is just Ernie and me for awhile.
in Iowa!
My days around here are a pattern of each other also except on church days. Not much to explore in this weather.
Do you have to recycle or does everything go in the trash together? We probably have discussed that topic and my mind is blank.
I love muffins of any kind and haven't made them in a very long time.