Good morning! Not as cold as it has been for sure. Jack is going to leave in about an hour to get the new key and I need to get dressed as I need to go to WM and run by the high school on a dry run to see about parking and such to pick up Thomas on Tuesday for his dental appt.
Got the downstairs cleaned yesterday and washed and dried the new towels this morning and folded them to go upstairs. I bought myself two new handbags 75% off so,got a deal on them. Not that I need them. I have a bazillion bags already.
Jean: Yes Kelly will have to do extensive therapy. Because of the nature of her repairs, she has to "reteach" her thigh muscles to,work again. It is all complicated with big long words bit it is going to be a tough way to go for a few weeks. I hope you have no travel problems and nice sunny warm weather while you're there. Oh my you had a bad time with the dessert bars. I am going to make choc chip cookies and take ice cream to the kids next week for their dessert. Kind of a lazy way but eh!!! I have to make lasagna and garlic bread. I have never used ricotta cheese so it should be interesting. Jack will only eat lasagna with mozzerella and cheddar. They eat traditional lasagna. She makes her own sauce but she is getting jar sauce from me!
Good Morning! The wind is blowing, the sun is hiding, and it's 41 degrees outside if my thermometer is correct. The washer is doing it's job and I have cleaned out litter boxes. Too much info, I know. I need to get back to my sorting projects and get another load of laundry started.
"Gma," I'll bet you could put ricotta cheese in your lasagna and Jack wouldn't know the difference. My "official" Italian recipe mixes ricotta with two eggs, plus mozzarella, and Parmesan chees. I asked an Ohio neighbor for her recipe and she said she didn't use one! The next time she made it I sat and wrote down ingredients as she cooked. She made her own noodles but I don't go that far. Of course, her's always tasted better than mine! You making it for Kelly makes me hungry for it. Maybe a trip to Olive Garden is in the near future. Do you tend to buy the same style handbags? I have my eye out for a red one like I've seen a lady at church carry. I like an outside pocket for my phone and car keys and a zipper down the middle.
Not much newsy from here. The sun is peeking out so hope that lasts! Hope you all have a great day!
Not much happening around here today. I am sipping on a lovely latte at the present for it is good after my drink for lunch. The gal made a mistake and made me a large one so the double shot of espresso will give me a buzz for sure.
We will be having grilled hamburgers for dinner. If the wind kicks up this afternoon I can always cook them on my Cuisinart® Griller inside which has made many good meals for us.
Will has gone with the gun shop owner to see some old historical landmarks on some land that he used to cowboy on for the owner. There are so many places around here rich with history. Will can take some pictures that will be valuable for the museum. There are still some old buildings standing up on a hill in a grove of trees on that property.
I have got to get busy this afternoon and do some re-arranging of things in this room. I have “stuff” to go in the MH that can be taken to the front room which will make it easier to cart it out to the MH when we bring it over and park it out front when the weather gets more like springtime.
DONNA FAYE Hopefully your dear daughter will weather her personal storm well and get well quickly. Sounds like she had quite an ordeal to go through.
JEAN You are a tad bit on the colder side than we are. Our days lately have been like spring weather but I imagine it won't last long for winter isn't over yet.
Good morning to you all. I was moving around some stuff in the fridge freezer to the chest freezer so now my hands are freezing. Other than that, it doesn't seem too chilly.
We have commissary day today so will be leaving here around 9:30 or so. I just hope it is quiet today and I don't have to dodge and weave them restocking a lot of stuff.
Jack got my new key and it works just fine to the tune of $240! I guess as long as you have two keys you can make more yourself but you have to have two. I still have not found my keys anywhere so I imagine they will pop up when I quit looking.
Jean: Jack has had lasagna with ricotta and doesn't like it. He says it tastes, "sandy." I don't particularly like it either, I like lasagna made with cottage cheese and mozz. I never even had it growing up and probably wouldn't have known what it was. Thanks for the cheese info though for your recipe. I am sure the kids will love it.
Maggie: She has her leg in a "soft" cast from hip to foot and a brace from hip to mid calf. She said yesterday she is feeling better and she is trying to cut back on drugs now. She gets the cast off tomorrow and then starts rehab. I wish Starbucks hadn't discontinued their hot apple drink I used to love. I do not drink coffee or eat or drink anything mocha as I don't like it and their oddball cold drinks are awful. They even put mocha in their hot chocolate. Phooey!
Well gals, I hear Jack walking around upstairs so he is done with his shower. Time for me. Have a good one. Faye
Good Afternoon! The sun is shining brightly, a breeze is blowing, and the thermometer says it is 40 degrees. Went to church, out for breakfast, changed clothes, and have read the papers. Bob is working on my glider rocker for the third time. It has bearings that have worn and clunk every once in awhile. The noise doesn't bug me but it does him. The funny thing is the bearings are $12 a piece at the hardware store, and he ordered all 8 for $8 from a guy at the welding shop. He only replaced four yesterday and it promptly clunked as soon as I rocked a few times. I don't know why he didn't do all of them in the first place. I should get busy and pick up the clutter laying around, and vacuum the fur bunnies. I have one Christmas decoration left to put away; it's sitting down in the entry and I don't think about it until I walk by it on my way out the door.
Maggie, I was just thinking about grilled hamburgers for later this afternoon. Good idea! I'm sure we will have at least one more snow before old man winter is finished with us. At least I hope the really cold weather is finished for this time around. My furnace could use a rest!
"Gma," hope your commissary trip was quick and easy this morning. I knew the car keys were expensive, but not that expensive. I've never heard of ricotta cheese described as tasting sandy. I've never used it for anything besides lasagna. I'm sure your lasagna will be delicious and I hope appreciated.
I need to get busy and accomplish something this afternoon. Enjoy the rest of your day!
Good Afternoon! We have had the strangest weather today; right now it's cloudy and that damp cold that goes right through a body. After I got to church this morning it poured rain for a few minutes, the temperature dropped, and ice covered the streets and sidewalks. Our cars park on an incline leading to the outside door and the secretary scattered some ice melt in a path to the door, but not on down to the cars. When I got ready to leave I got to the handicapped rail and went back inside to get more ice melt. I made a little path to my car and was able to go on my merry way. The main streets weren't too bad as long as I went slow. I headed to the hospital and gave up on the idea of doing a couple errands. The sun came out for a few minutes while I was in the gift shop. Crazy weather! In a few minutes I am calling a company to argue a late charge for two checks they never received, and I reissued as soon as I knew. After three phone calls, and almost $5000 in merchandise, I'd like to tell them to stuff the late charge! I have card club tonight so hope the weather behaves.
I need to make that phone call. Hope you all enjoy the rest of your day!
Good afternoon to you all. We sat and waited all morning for the glass guy to show up. He said 8-10 and then called about 9:45 saying he was having vehicle trouble and was 15 minutes out. He showed up at almost 11 AM. He charged us $165 to replace the glass in one pane of window that is about 5 x 7! We did ask him for estimate on the storm window for the big picture window where the pane was broken. When we took the storm window down and sat it against the deck fence it shattered. He said he would do it after hours at his own time for $75 bucks! Now the weird thing is he and his sister own the franchise he charged me $165 for soooooo..... Anyway, I knew it would cost us much more than that to get it replaced so I said yes. He said he would call us before he came out but he wasn't sure what day he would be able to do it.
Today was weigh day. Down 4.6 lbs so I surely will take that.
Tomorrow I have to take T to the dentist at 1:15 and I sure hope Jack can go with me as parking is limited and I may have to park at the Walgreens and walk to the high school which is quite a walk for me. They have a few places that are handicapped but I don't know how many kids have to use the handicap spaces. It is still a walk but not near what it would be walking from Walgreens. It is what you get with inner city high schools. You can't park on the street either side.
Kelly had her inner cast taken off today but has to wear the outer one for a while yet, but it is removal and they told her she could start showering and taking it off on Thursday then starts rehab next week. She is doing well she says.
Jean: We are in the low 60's today. It is sunny shiny and wonderful. It was nice so that having the door open and such getting the window replaced wasn't so awful. Everybody takes advantage of you nowadays. I have had to get nasty with people sometimes when they try to rip you off. Like you said, sometimes you want to send the stuff back and tell them to stuff it. Jack is going to put up my new blinds next Sunday. I have a painting class with Kelly on Saturday afternoon and going to go to dinner with her so Saturday is shot pretty much. We got the faux wood blinds and I think the ones we have are originals. They are awful and I have been wanting to replace them forever. Hope your creaky chair goes silent!
"Gma," I just got off the phone with the nasty accounting person at K & K in Sandusky, Ohio! I went through all of phone call dates and explanations, etc., regarding the two checks we are being charged the late fee for. She just kept saying the late fee stays on the account. I ended by asking what happens if I don't pay, it and she said it stays on the account. I said, "fine" and hung up on her. I was so !! Glad you got part of your windows fixed. Everything is so expensive these days, but you have to pay the price if it's something you can't do yourself. How do you clean your blinds? I like the looks of them but hate cleaning them. I even get lazy with my vertical blinds. Good luck with the parking tomorrow!
Good morning ladies. It is not chilly at all in the house this morning and supposed to be another nice day outside. I am sick of cold weather and so ready for spring already.
We should be able to book our cruises for next year next month. The schedule is supposed to be updated past October 2016 next month so we shall see. I am anxious to see what the dates are like. I would like to go the first to second two weeks in September but that might not work out with their schedule.
My sweater is coming along. I am working on the area where the waist is fitted. I increased the length on both ends and so am making the fitted area about half an inch longer too. This sweater is way too short for someone who wants some belly to be hid so I just increased it 3 inches below the fitted area, 1/2 inch in the fitted area and will increase it 3 inches above the fitted area so the sweater is more like 31 instead of 25 inches in length.
Jean: We have the same issue with the maintenance fees here. You have to mail them in, but if you don't mail them in way ahead of time they say they don't get them in time and charge a late fee every month. Frankly it is a total rip off and so is your situation. I know on my Target credit card if you do not pay it by the 25th the next day they charge $25 to your credit card in a late fee!! Luckily, that can be paid online so it is never late. I did just pay Jack's second quarterly Medicare bill that was due in December, but they it just completely opposite. They send you three bills before they cut you off I guess. I wasn't going to pay it at all and make them take it out of his first check, which is next month, but then decided to go ahead and pay it and get reimbursed. I paid the first quarter for Oct-Dec, but was just going to wait for the second quarter, but decided I better go ahead and pay it and let them reimburse me back two months. Hopefully I don't have to wait eons to get the money back.
Everyone have a great day. I am hoping the door guy gets here early and gets done so Jack can go with me to pick up Thomas, but remains to be seen I guess since he has to remove and install two new doors. Faye
Good morning, ladies! 32 degrees right now but headed for the 50s today. We've finally warmed up to regular 40 to 50 degree temperatures. Sunday it was in the 60s...and I have dandelions blooming in the front yard!
Sandy is recovering from her cataract surgery nicely and I take her next week on Thursday for the second eye. When I went to my doc on Friday, I have 20-20 vision and only need readers. He said I was healing quickly and I have my last appointment with him Feb. 13.
Saturday was my retirement dinner. What a night! A stretch limo picked my friends and I up - 4 of us in a limo for 15! It had 2 bars. The dinner was so good - Schlisinger's Steak House. I would never be able to afford to go there. We had appetisers of calarami, onion rings, crab cakes, shrimp and scallops. Next I had a cup of seafood chowder followed by a salad with blue cheese dressing. The prime rib is 12 ounces of melt in your mouth goodness and was served with a baked potato and asparagus. I had fresh berries with creme englese for dessert. I wouldn't have ordered all that food and half of it came home with me, but my boss had chosen to do the prece fixe menu. He also gave me a check for $5,000! The whole evening was so special I'm still pinching myself.
I took my vaccum cleaner to be repaired yesterday. I was so happy, they unclogged the hose while I waited and the repair bill was $20. I came home and vaccumed upstairs, the stairs, and downstairs.
Today I'm going to Glory's to sew with her and Nora and then this evening is my quilting bee so nothing but fun today.
Faye, I hate waiting for repair men. It seems they never come when they say they will. I'm glad Kelly is doing well. Congratulations on the weight loss!
Jean, Is there another company they could get merchandise from? That's ridiculous to have those late charges. I suppose if you don't pay them, then they will charge late charges on the late charge.
Good Morning! It's cloudy and windy in my neighborhood today. It's supposed to be cooler again and my furnace is running. It seems like I just pick up one "pile" and find another one waiting. Does anyone else feel like they never get caught up? I need to address a couple church cards and fold a load of towels. Another load of laundry is in the washer and should be done soon.
"Gma," how exciting to select your cruise dates so far in advance! It's always fun to plan. on another great loss last week! Is there an advantage to paying Medicare quarterly? Bob just commented that our paperwork crossed in the mail, and he got a bill to make up the difference.
Susan, what a wonderful retirement celebration! I'm sure your boss appreciated you so much; he will miss your skills nd knowledge in his office, as evidenced by his "send-off" for you. Have fun sewing today!
It's about time for Bob to show up for lunch. Hmmm, wonder what leftovers might be lurking in the fridge. Hope you all enjoy a terrific Tuesday and do something you enjoy!
It is a beautiful day here in the neighborhood. I am going to make a stew for dinner and have all the ingredients so don’t have to get anything for it. I was going to make it in a crock-pot but have decided to do it on the stove top this afternoon. On this chilly day it will warm up the kitchen some and smell good cooking besides. I cut all the carrots, celery and onion that go into it last evening and got the cut up stew meat out of the freezer and put it into the fridge after I set it set out for awhile. It is going to be a wonderful dinner.
Not much going on here this day except the usual happenings. I just finished drinking my Almased lunch so it will be settled when Will gets home from an errand for us to go do some shopping for needful things.
DONNA FAYE you have lost a lot of weight now what do you weigh now? If you want to keep that to yourself that's OK. Nice that you can plan for your vacation a year ahead.
SUSAN What a wonderful boss to treat you so well. Just goes to show you were a great employee.
JEAN nope we never get caught up. Always something to do around here.
Good morning to you all. It is nice and cozy in the house now that the new doors are in and the window pane is fixed. The doors look great and they both have locks so we can now lock the storm doors as well as the inner doors when we do things like travel and such.
This morning is my drain insert and I am a bit nervous. I don't know what to expect and such like I do when I have surgery. I hope it doesn't take too long to get it all done. My apt is 8 AM but I plan to be there 45 minutes early. I have to measure all the fluid that comes out too, which will be a pain in the neck but it is all ballooned back up again so this has to be done.
I have a painting class to go to with Kelly on Saturday afternoon which should be interesting. We will be doing a painting called Tulips in the Moonlight. We shall see how much mine looks like tulips!
Susan: What a wonderful gift to you for your years of service. He must be an extraordinary man to be so good to his long time employees. Sounds like you had a great time.
Maggie: Nope I have never been ashamed of my size or my weight. I am still in the low 300's and trying to get below that at the moment. I had some personal issues between vacation and the holidays and didn't eat very well.
Jean: The way I understand it is if your SS and your Medicare don't match up then you have to pay your Medicare until your SS begins. Jack turned 65 in Oct but isn't starting his SS until February so we had to pay for Oct-March and they will then reimburse us for Feb and March since they will have taken the payment out of his check for those two months too. Otherwise you can't pay it outright it has to come out of your SS check. It is screwy, but one of the guys Jack works with said they are pretty good about reimbursing you fairly quickly. Anyway, it is paid and that is the main thing I guess. Now that the doors are on, our next project is getting the commercial racks and getting the pantry started as the dining room looks like an atom bomb exploded. We have to get the stuff cleared out of there first so I told Jack starting every non commissary weekend we need to work on it. This weekend I have Saturday busy all day, but Sunday we are cleaning the back windows inside and out and putting up the new blinds. You asked about cleaning. Frankly I didn't clean them too much as I was afraid the things would fall down. We should have just pitched them when we bought the place but Jack is so privacy crazy. All our windows have blinds that stay closed with curtains over them. I am ditching the curtains this weekend and just keeping the blinds. I plan on looking on the internet to see their cleaning recommendations. There are always sites for cleaning stuff.
Well gals, Jack is up and will be down soon and we are leaving in a hour. I get nothing to eat or drink until we are finished so will be starving by the time we are done. I just hope I don't have any blood sugar issues. Have a great middle of the week. Faye
Good Morning! The sun is trying to poke through the clouds without much luck. The wind continues to blow and it feels like 19 degrees outside. We get teased by a couple of nice warmer days and then back to cold. I need to run a couple errands, both of which I don't want to do. I'm going to visit the other Verizon store and see if they can find a phone battery for me. I ordered new checks for "my" account and when they came they are the cheap counter checks with our middle initials in our names. That is the way we sign our names on checks but have never ever, ever never had the middle initial printed on our checks. My checks aren't fancy but not the boring plain ones either. I handed the reorder blank to the teller at the drive through and would have thought someone would have called regarding any differences. Other than that I have bell choir later this afternoon. It's Bob's night to cook too.
Maggie, hope you found everything on your shopping list yesterday. Lately I've been making more than one stop because stores are out of items. None of the four stores had light colored Karo syrup last week, if you can believe that.
"Gma," hope all went well with your drain procedure. I'll bet you notice a difference with your new doors. Our "new" windows will be 20 years old this fall and I'm sure there have been improvements since then. Our shades and blinds are all open during the day light. I hate being in the dark, and have lamps on when it's a gloomy dark day.
I need to get busy! Hope you all enjoy a wonderful Wednesday!
The stew I made yesterday was so good. We had a slice of toasted French bread to eat with it. We decided that I should make it more often. There is enough left to have some for dinner another day.
Will and I are both looking for better weather to bring the MH over and park it out front. We will level it and then we can see if we really do need to buy a new fridge for it. We have a fund started for one if need be and have 2/3 of the money for one and the installation stashed. It costs about as much to have one installed as half the price of the fridge. We will have to drive it to Texas to the nearest place to get one and have it installed if the existing one is bad.
We have so much to sell when the weather lets folks out and about for “yard sales.” A house full of furniture can go to the consignment place in town if it doesn’t sell plus what is left of the little stuff that doesn’t sell can go there. What money we do make on the sale of “stuff” will go into our gas fund for the MH.
I am so looking forward to my weigh day and if I don’t show a loss or a maintain I will have to tighten up my one meal a day that I eat. I am not a “snacker” so there is no tightening there. I got a deal on my drink powder: Buy one at its regular price and buy another at half price so I got two. I certainly do feel better and have more energy like the product information says one will. So I am quite pleased with that. It says I will rev up my metabolism and I believe it has. The savings from drinking two meals a day of Almased® instead of eating “food” is considerable since food costs a lot more.
We went by the Steel Fabrication place in town to see if they could build a tow bar for the front of the Jeep so we can tow it behind the MH and a rack in the rear above the spare tire so we can carry extra cans of fuel and attach our high lift jack to it. Seems strange that the folks that made that front bumper doesn’t make a tow bar to fit it. Anyway this guy can build what we want and install it later this week. Since it is a steel fabrication place he will be able to build what we want out of scraps from one of his bigger jobs and so our cost for him to do the work is very reasonable.
JEAN If you haven't used any of those checks take them back and have them print them they way you want. We don't have our first names on our checks ~ just initials and our last name and the bank is good with that.
DONNA FAYE We have a lock on our storm doors front and back. We like leaving the back door open and the storm door locked for it has the doggie door in it and all three little ones use it. I am sure you will have fun at that painting class. When I took an art class in collage I was the worst one but I got an "A" because the professor realized I was doing my best and he couldn't ask more than that. Some in the class that I thought were really great artists didn't get an A because they weren't giving it their full attention and didn't always follow his instructions.
I have to make lasagna and garlic bread. I have never used ricotta cheese so it should be interesting. Jack will only eat lasagna with mozzerella and cheddar. They eat traditional lasagna. She makes her own sauce but she is getting jar sauce from me! 
My "official" Italian recipe mixes ricotta with two eggs, plus mozzarella, and Parmesan chees. I asked an Ohio neighbor for her recipe and she said she didn't use one! The next time she made it I sat and wrote down ingredients as she cooked. She made her own noodles but I don't go that far. Of course, her's always tasted better than mine! You making it for Kelly makes me hungry for it. Maybe a trip to Olive Garden is in the near future. 
Do you tend to buy the same style handbags? I have my eye out for a red one like I've seen a lady at church carry. I like an outside pocket for my phone and car keys and a zipper down the middle.
Sunny Saturday
Good luck with the parking tomorrow!
on another great loss last week! Is there an advantage to paying Medicare quarterly? Bob just commented that our paperwork crossed in the mail, and he got a bill to make up the difference. 
Hope you all enjoy a terrific Tuesday and do something you enjoy! 
you have lost a lot of weight now what do you weigh now? If you want to keep that to yourself that's OK. Nice that you can plan for your vacation a year ahead.
I'll bet you notice a difference with your new doors. Our "new" windows will be 20 years old this fall and I'm sure there have been improvements since then. Our shades and blinds are all open during the day light. I hate being in the dark, and have lamps on when it's a gloomy dark day.