I didn't make it in as early as intended. However it is what it is and I am going with that. We had really loud, strong thunder boomers last night. I got up with Bruno (Sam's dog) since I couldn't sleep anyway. For being a Great Dane/Boxer/Blue Healer mix he is one HUGE baby and fraidy cat...sorry Sunday, Meadow and crew. He sat on the floor next to me (on couch) with his head on my chest. This one really loud thunder struck and he leaped in his squat position onto my body. Bout knocked the wind out of me. Going to look for bruises later since I bruise so easy on this blood thinner. We had tornadoes across Indiana too. One in particular touched down just a few miles from C's parent's house. Near Grissom Air Force Base. He called them last night but that was just before the touch down. I will call them later when they have time to get up. A few miles south from his parents in Kokomo got 4 inches of rain and flooding. TV news showed the water as high as the fire hydrant. It is receding now tho.
Yesterday afternoon I had an appointment at the shoulder ortho. My left arm has been bothering me for about 6 mos. At first I thought it was heart related. Pain as a sign of an attack. Mentioned in the past months here. Anyway, I have reduced strength in that arm, especially when getting things down from shelves, lifting the boys, or sometimes just lifting my purse. Granted my purse can get heavy. I did downsize and stopped carrying things to drop the weight of it. Yeah I know, going from a 40 lbs purse to 35 lb is not much. lol. Doc thinks I may have a torn rotaror cuff. I have to call to schedule an MRI. Bleh, as we just got all our medical bills paid off. Get this taken care of next move is to see about my knee and maybe get a cortisone shot in it.
Vacation was sunny all days but one. Not bad. We used that day to run errands. All other days were outside by the kiddie pool in the backyard with the exceptions of Wednesday when we went to the water park. Yep I did it. Sam and I went down the enormous water slide. So fun we did it twice. We had a pretty huge crowd. My bro/sil, Sam's friend Meg and two girls then Sis, the boys and I. The boys went on all the slides in the kiddie area and also did the downspout sprays and gully washers. We were there about 5 hours and played hard. My SIL, bro and I went on the lazy river for about 2 hours. Lots of chatting and laughing. Now mind you it was a site as my bro is 6'5" and about 280/300. His large arse in the biggest tube looked hilarious. Let's just say not much of the tube was showing but kept him afloat. He is a real trooper for 67 years old. I am beginning to see age hit him in his movements and health. Kind of worries me, makes me sad. He still works full time at his job. He doesn't want to retire so go for it. He does enjoy life and he and my SIL keep busy. Probably the key to life.
Friday, Sam, the boys and I came downtown. Yep I don't like downtown but did it anyway. They had a farmer's market on the south half of the circle. I picked up zucchini, yellow squash (yellow), jalapenos and a large bag of popcorn for the boys. We took their wagon so we could haul them and our catch from the market. It was nice, clean and not overly crowded. A little too hot and muggy but made it through it alive. Stopped at Cheddar's for a very late lunch on the way home. Grilled salmon on a spinach/strawberry salad with strawberry vinaigrette. I ordered blue cheese dressing on the side as I like to dip my salad into it on occasion.
Tonight is AA workshop. We didn't have it last week due to the holiday. We are almost finished with this workshop. One gal has offered her home with a pool for our last get together rather than going out to eat. We told her she has to do nothing. We will do the food and clean. Anything to be poolside in my eyes. Oh yeah.
WOW...more thunder boomers just now. Sounds really loud here on the 16th floor.
Going to post and come back in a few for personals.
Location: A beautiful and peaceful place in the woods
Posts: 8,905
S/C/G: Stuck/Working on it/Good 2 Go
Height: Fun Size
Good morning all,
Sunny now - rain tonight. Enjoy it while you can. Supposed to only be a high of 61 tomorrow. What is going on here??? I have not looked at the garden yet (or planted the last of the 5 items I bought last week. Keep forgetting / other things get in the way. The hamster wheel is turning too fast. DH said the garden took a terrible beating with the hail last Thursday. I have to see if it's worth hanging on to. DH cleaned up the UTV yesterday - the buyers are supposed to come tonight to pick it up. I am still sad and quite a bit mad that we lost half the value in 3 short years where we barely used it. That was certaining a huge waste of money. I am fearful the same is true of the pontoon boat. We have yet to take it out. Granted alot of it has to do with the weather being so bad this year. Can't go out / no fun on the lake in a downpour.
I got a call yesterday when I was out grocery shopping. They asked if I would fill in at the senior center for 2 days when the new girl goes to training. She wanted to do it tomorrow and Thursday. I said no to Wednesday - I have a hair appointment, then I need to prep for our Humane Society Board meeting that evening and I am meeting someone at 3pm ahead of time to prepare for the fundraiser I have to chair that involves somehow getting 44 people to beg on the street with pink buckets. So I agreed to this Thursday forgetting that I have to do bingo and that would put my day at getting up at 6am to be there by 8am. Working the phones until 4pm and then going upstairs (not enough time to go home and rest a bit) and then doing bingo until 9pm. I don't think I can hold up that long any more. I am working again at the center next Wednesday. I am working at the shop this morning but then taking the last 2 weeks of the month off since I will be busy getting the fund raiser going. We are running into a shortage of people to help out at the shop. But I would really like to take most of August off of everything. My partner at the shop and bingo is going on vacation for almost 3 weeks the end of August and that means I will have double duty responsibility so I think I will be selfish and take some time off myself. DH asked why I agreed to the senior center and I said I don't know, I did say I'd help (though my intention was not for a full day's work). I am a stupid sucker...
Annie - I always feel sorry for animals during storms. They follow their instincts for survival which say to RUN. RUN FAST. It's always been a pity to me that we can't seem to comfort them enough to make them understand that they truly are ok in our hands. Yikes by getting body slammed by Bruno though. How is Sassy during all this? You are a woman after my heart with a heavy purse with everything in it. I have been told over and over by various doctors and physical therapists that a heavy purse is not wise but I can't help myself. I try to make it smaller and I guess my version of just the "essentials" is more than most people's. My Mom's purse weighs about 3 ounces. But not only can you get rotator cuff problems but also tendonitis in the shoulder and arms. Best to get that taken care of. Mom has pretty much lost the use of her right arm because she has a bulge from the rotator cuff injury that can't be repaired at her age. I feel for you sister because she almost cries - she said the pain is awful and she can barely lift her arm. How nice that you had a great time at the water park and you were brave enough to go down the water slide! Your brother is right to some degree about keeping busy. It seems when people slow down or in the case of my Mom get progressively more homebound - when you have no purpose or distractions one tends to dwell on the sad side of life and it's bad for the mental and eventually physical side of life. It's good he's still working IF he enjoys his work and it's not just a drudge of the death march. Any word on C selling off his route? Did you wind up getting a new boss? Yum - grilled salmon on a Strawberry Spinach salad sounds yummy - I have all those ingredients at home - thanks for the menu idea!! Oh and my former partner at the Thrift Shop came to bingo last week. She decided to do low carb - maybe not full on keto - but she is loving it. Said it's been the most successful eating plan she's been on in years.
Laura - that's a bummer about your Mom not using her food allowance. I think people's taste buds diminish and food is not that interesting to them. But on the other hand I did realize when I was working that eating was a welcome respite from the drudge of the job so I looked FORWARD to coming in a bit early and picking up breakfast in the cafeteria and where to go for lunch that day was at least a 30 minute discussion. I wondered with those programs that provide 2 meals as part of the package if people would take advantage of that. I get a 2 month menu from the senior center and really only about 1/3 of it appeals to me. The other third is "ok" and then there are some days like liver and onions day that I'd rather go hungry although they always have an alternate available. I looked at the menu where my sister's husband's aunt lives. They have a special of the day and then you can get a salad (vegetarian option) or a burger or chicken sandwich. It's a limited menu - something like that I can see people not getting excited about. Aunt J is more into the camaraderie of eating with her group of buddies than the food itself. Let me know what you think of the Twin Peaks series. It peaked my interest also but I have a bunch of movies tying up my cable recorder and I was mildly curious about joining Hulu to see The Handmaid's Tale. So many things, so little time Good for you for keeping up with the plank challenge. Keep working that core as long as you can.
Alright - somehow it got 30 minutes past when I was supposed to wrap this up and get in the shower. Now I have to hurry because one of the volunteers who thinks she runs the shop will open the doors 5 or 10 minutes before I have all the cash counted in the till just because people are milling at the door. Up to this point I have held out smacking her outright. Not her place.
Annie – Awww, poor Bruno. I can’t say I feel all that comfortable when storms like that come through. There are a lot of trees in our area and I worry about trees falling. And exploding. I’m sure I’ve mentioned the time that a tree at a home behind us & a few doors down got struck by lightning and the tree exploded and a piece of it flew across the street and hit a woman returning from a dog walk. She was critically injured. So anyway, storms are scary. I hope everything is okay with C’s parents. == I hope your shoulder is okay. I’ve had shoulder issues off and on in the past, no fun. I’m a heavy purse person too. When will we learn we don’t need to carry around so much??? And your knee now too??!! That’s just not fair. == That water park sounds fun. I’d sure like to float around on a lazy river for a couple hours… == Great that your brother is still working. I wouldn’t mind still working at that age, but I’d want to be doing something I really enjoyed or was really low stress. Both of which mean low pay I'm sure. Hopefully someday I can afford to take a job like that, haha.
Happy – I hope you can salvage some items from your garden. My tomatoes are doing alright, but the pepper plant is still tiny (though there’s a tiny pepper already). I think it’s because it’s being shaded too much by the tall flowers in the adjacent flower bed. I’m tempted to pull it out of that spot and plant it elsewhere, maybe just in a large planter. == I’m not surprised that the UTV lost so much value – I think “toys” are always like that. I’m sure if we were in the market for something like that, we’d be buying it used like we do our cars or the scooter or our and bicycles. I do hope you hang onto the pontoon boat and have many years of use out of it. == Re purses, my mother has also gone lighter – she wears a fanny pack. But I haven’t been able to cull down what I carry. Especially difficult now – when I wear my contact lenses, I carry around my big sunglass case, as well as the case with my reading glasses. I do, however, carry lighter weight purses, nylon, microfiber, etc. I looked at purses at Kohl’s the other day and all those vinyl bags are heavy! I’ll need to get online and shop for another nylon bag with a bunch of pockets – I love my pockets! == My mom’s community has a “grill” that has daily specials, but always a standard menu of sandwiches, burgers, wraps, etc. There’s also a nicer (white tablecloth) restaurant. There’s certainly something there she can eat, it’s just a matter of getting into the habit. == Re Twin Peaks – the 2nd season is less of the murder mystery and more subplots and trying to be a bit more comedic. Not sure I like that. I’ll give it a few more episodes. I’ve heard the Handmaid’s Tale is good. I read the book so long ago (and saw the movie), I can’t recall much.
Hellos to the rest of you! Hope you’re having a good week!
==
I requested a new keyboard for my computer here at work and got it yesterday. It’s a quieter one. I’m just glad to have a working space key again. I'll try not to break this one.
I’d started a Jonathan Kellerman book a couple days ago, but I gave myself permission to skip it & I returned it to the library. It was going to involve insects in the storyline and I hate insects, so that was it for that book. I’ll just skip to the next book in the series.
I’d accepted the work dinner invitation yesterday, but I declined today. I got it all goofed up in my head thinking it was with someone else I’ll be working closely with, but realized it was not and decided that I didn’t need to be there. I’ll go to my aqua fit class tonight instead.
That’s about it for all the excitement in my world, lol. Off to post.
Workshop was very nice. We got through about 4 pages of read. Probably a few more weeks and we will be done with workshop. Just depends on discussion and how windy others are with their shares. We may just go out to eat rather than the pool/cook out for our final workshop. It just depends on who wants to rush home from work and make a pitch in item for the cook out. Not me. I say we go out to eat. We are going to vote on it next week.
I hurried home from work to put together Mexican for salads, burritos etc for dinner. I used leftover chicken I had in the freezer (already chopped and cooked). Just heated it up and added taco spices. It was rather good easy and fast. Sam cleaned up the kitchen and got the coffee ready to brew for me this morning. Which I left my coffee in the car and will have to track out there to get it in a few. It is my bullet proof coffee otherwise I would just leave it and drink some from our kitchen. Coffee is in my yeti so it shall stay hot. Speaking of Yeti's, I think they keep things cold, colder longer that they do hot-hotter. IMO. Since it was a freebe from work I really cannot complain.
The visit to the ortho for my shoulder resulted in he THINKS I may have a torn rotaror cuff. Lovely. Going for an MRI on Friday the 21st. Will know the next steps from the MRI. He did say there is not much if any arthritis in my shoulder from the x-rays he took. More to come about all that after the 21st.
HAPPY...you and your volunteering, my word girl I am glad you are taking time off from it in August to do some HAPPY stuff rather than everybody else stuff. Make it all about you. You deserve it and NEED it. After this week you will sleep really well or toss and turn. No in betweens for you. Did DH ever catch that muskie? The storms..Sassy could care less about them, just don't interrupt her sleep for anything. She is one cranky beeeeaccch when you try to wake her and take her out to potty. Just like an old woman (me). C sleeps in on Wednesdays and so does Sassy. Had to pick her up and carry her to the back door to go out and potty. She would not just run to the door like normal. Lazy she is. Anyway when she came back in she ran straight to the bedroom waiting on me to lift her onto the bed. Spoiled! C is not selling his route at this time. The first guy backed out and the second guy didn't offer C to drive the route for him. He just cannot do nothing to make money. So back to just do a good job C and quit complaining. You have a job, blessed. They still have not announced the new boss yet. I think they are dickering about $$ at the moment. Well that is the rumor out there. Have you decided to sell the boat yet? Or giving it a few more years? C wanted to get a boat but I told him negative sir. Our weather is not good enough, his work schedule is too busy and we only have weekends even if he didn't work as much. To me it is not worth the $$ to invest in a boat at this time. My purse is not the cause of the arm ache but sure it wasn't helping. I did switch to a backpack type of purse so now I don't have to carry it on my arm/shoulder. I actually like it when going to the grocery or like the farmer's market the other day. May have to downsize from this medium size to small.
LAURA...Great news. I can do planks in the pool. hahahahhaha. Yeah no weight required. Sam laughed at me when I did it the other day in the boy's lil pool. So I officially did planks. bah. Yes, my brother is still working because he actually likes his job. He is a quality control manager. He does get involved and does hands on projects with his "people". So he is a manager and a worker too. He turned 67 in February and I turned 57 in June. That is how we keep track of each other's ages. 10 year spread. I told him it is 10 years and 4 mos spread. I could probably use a new keyboard too. This one is about 3 years old but all works so I will just keep pecking on it till something blows. I just want a new one cause it will be all clean and shiny. Glad you got to go to your aqua class rather than the work dinner. Are you still enjoying it as much? OH, the CHI trip. I have to be there at 10:30 CT on the 25th. Class is till 5 then have a mandatory dinner with everyone that night. Class is from 8 to 12:30 CT on the 26th. How about we meet up around 12:45 CT for a glass of tea or something or a quick hello. I can head home after that. Let me know if that would work for you.
CEEG...Did you get your riding mower? Any attachments? How about your music stand? The 4th of July party at your crib sounded very nice. I listened to the nephews playing guitars and singing. Very nice.
SUSIE...has your world slowed down? Or is this the week the new president is in? King's Island was a great success, fitting into the seats should of made you very happy and what a great NSV.
SHADDIE...hey girl, how are you feeling? How much hair has grown in? 1/2 inch yet? Congrats on retirement. I have about 10 more years. What is on the bucket list for retirement? How is the garden doing? Get all the hedges out?
Location: A beautiful and peaceful place in the woods
Posts: 8,905
S/C/G: Stuck/Working on it/Good 2 Go
Height: Fun Size
Hi girls,
Yikes, my internet is slow and getting slower. Took forever to log in. Didn't sell the UTV after all. Buyers started dicking around with the price. What part of "firm" don't you understand even after it's been explained to you 3 times? People want ultimate value for THEIR dollar even if they screw you in the process. So we will try again other routes. I did manage to cut my volunteer at the office tomorrow to a half day. Talked to my bingo partner and realized that he needs me as we will be super busy. The woman who asked me said she will find someone or have the OTHER LADY THEY JUST HIRED sit and watch the phones. Duh Got 2 paid people - think they'd cover for each other???? Oh well. I probably will continue the thrift shop in August - just not the next 2 weeks. I forgot my friend signed up and she is doing this to help me out so I kinda have to do it. BUT am taking the next 2 weeks "off". To work on the fundraiser. so not much of an "off"
Annie bummer on the rotater cuff. I think that is becoming a more common wear and tear injury because we put so much of a demand on it. Get it fixed now - my Mom has that problem and it's too late for her to have surgery and she suffers greatly from it. Did I mention that the sides of my elbows constantly hurt / are tender if you squeeze them? The rheumatologist said that (as well as up near the rotator cuff ) that is tendonitis from over use of the tendon in that area. So I guess there's alot to be said about us putting stress on certain areas of the body. It's a pistol of a recovery (rotator cuff) from what I understand simply because you have to really limit use of the area while recovering and that's like not flexing a finger when you have a bandage on it. But take care of things while you still can. I know though, bye bye paycheck Ha ha with Sassy the sleep sack - Nina is like that too when SHE decides to lay down and sleep. Nothing moves her. I have a Yeti cooler that I won and I put ice in it to keep some spare fruit and drinks cold. I also had DH buy a small bag of ice and put it in a regular cooler - I was going to use it later. The small bag of ice lasted less than 24 hours while the Yeti keeps ice cubes for at least 4 days. They are definitely worth the high price. I don't know about keeping foods hot - I guess the insulation is such that it would. Usually I rely on the drink container (I use a Thermos brand) and it keeps hot for 12 hours, cold for 24. And that works as stated. Too bad you aren't doing the pool thing for your last workshop of the season. Will you miss those sessions? Something to take their place?
Laura - I smiled about your new quiet keyboard. My thought was that you can now post in secret at work: I hope you and Annie can meet up. Good deal that you got to skip the dinner you didn't want/need to go to. How was aqua class? Hah also but maybe not really - that you could not read the book that had bugs in it. I can understand it - I'd be jumpy and scratching all the time I was reading it.
Hello to the rest. I have to go get cleaned up and off to get my hair done. DH just announced we are supposed to get thunderstorms about the time I get finished. That might alter my plans for what I was going to do afterwards. I am not all that prepared for my meetings later today. But then again we have board members skipping tonight's meeting for cheesy excuses. We only meet twice a year - you think people would make that a priority? Why are you on the board??? I don't know. I guess my expectations are too high.
Anyway have a good day ladies. Hello to the rest of the chicks.
I haven't been using the laptop but decided to today. It's crazy.
Not sure who asked but yes we did get the riding lawn mower. It's only a 30 inch cut which is all I need. It's supposed to be delivered Saturday. Can't wait for that. I also went down to the music store in Springfield and bought black metal music stand. They didn't have the holder. Also bought an adjustable piano bench. The organ bench was to high and a regular dining chair was to low. I can now see the music book.
I did get the garage cleaned out also. I'm still curious as to why the nephew says the boat is his friend and that he was supposed to come and get it. That doesn't make since to me when he tells me that his friend lives in Kansas City, MO. In my opinion I think it's his and he doesn't want his wife to know. We put it out in the shed. I bet it stays there!!!!!
---------
Annie
Poor Bruno. I know I jump when we have those loud boomers. I can only imagine how the dogs would react. Hope the shoulder is not giving you to much problem today. I chose the song the nephews were playing because of the way the were stomping heir feet.
Happy
Good for you in saying no to helping train at the senior citizen center. Hail can certainly do some damage.
Laura
Don't blame you for returning the book to the Library. I don't like bugs either. Has your mom gotten settle in?
-----
Going to get this posted. I'm tired of dealing with this thing jumping sizes on me while I'm typing.
Location: A beautiful and peaceful place in the woods
Posts: 8,905
S/C/G: Stuck/Working on it/Good 2 Go
Height: Fun Size
Good morning ladies,
Quick post for me. I am off to the senior center shortly. Got a call when I was out yesterday. I stopped at the center Tuesday told the girl who wants me to fill in for her that I could not work all day today because with bingo tonight that would mean I'd be there from 8am to 9pm which was too long. I could do the morning but needed her to find a fill in for 12:30 to 4pm. Seemed simple enough, no??? Guess not as I got a call from the other lady who volunteers to answer phones. Just when was it that I was working and when did they need her? She is a competent lady so I know the screw up in the message came from the girl who we are filling in for. This girl is getting PAID to answer phones and take messages. And she can't get this straight. And DH wonders why I'm crabby I could not get a hold of the other lady because I was out so I hope she does not travel a far distance to show up this morning because she is responsible enough to do that. She said on her message that she'd leave her home number but she didn't so I had no way to get a hold of her. I went to the Humane Society Board meeting last night. That too was a joke sadly. They don't get the paperwork out ahead of time and the people who did some of the financial reports were not there to answer questions. We only meet twice a year - how HARD is it to not attend???? Particularly when they are scheduling meetings in advance they try to accomodate a date all can make it? There are also some underlying tensions / people issues there as well as at the shop. And yet the world turns...
Got my hair done yesterday. It's shorter, has layers that I can scrunch and fluff so less work with the blow dryer. Still blonde on top but the bottom is now a sort of dark purple tint. The stylist who returned from maternity leave suggested it. She has the HAPPIEST baby ever - such a big no tooth drooly grin. You just want to squeeze him. ♥
I need to hop in the shower so apologies for no personals right now. Depends on how much time I have when I get home today and before bingo. If not I will do a full report tomorrow when I think I am home ALL DAY !!!
Good Morning All....one more wake up and it is the weekend. Nothing planned as such, thank heavens. Meeting on Sat morning and church on Sunday. Bout it. May get the car washed since we are in for a string of nice days. Sheesh for likes of me I cannot even remember what I fixed for dinner. Wow, that is the first sign they say, of what who knows. Sis and I did go to our pedicure appt. I got a very nice bright pinkish/orange color this time. Nice to look down at my toes to brighten up my day. Came home and watched some of the EPSY awards. (Sports awards) Peyton Manning hosted, he did a wonderfully fantastic job. I had to turn it off at 9:30, couldn't keep my eyes open.
When to my primary care doc for my 6 mos check up. She is in agreement that I either never had Hep C or a miracle occurred. My BP was 112/78 and my weight was 168, it was 167 at home that morning. Just a few more lbs and I will be at my final goal of 159/160. Taking it slow and easy. As long as I have to work at it I am not at goal, maintaining or headed in the wrong direction. I am in size 8 pants this morning. Just depends on the brand whether I wear a size 8 or 10, but heck I am happy with both. A gal here at work that dresses very cute/hip and has nice clothes is giving me her size 10's as soon as she goes through her closet. She has gained and canot wear them. Looking forward to that.
CEEG...I used to use the riding mower when I was married the first time. I really enjoyed it as it was me time and no one could bother me. We had two acres to cut so it took a bit of time. Have fun with that. Glad you are getting your music stand/bench so you can enjoy playing much more.
HAPPY...If surgery is required on the rotarer cuff it is be done by laparoscope and not invasive. At least that is what the ortho doc told me. I am not really worried about it. Doc said my should may just require a cortisone shot. Wouldn't that be wonderful. Maybe, might just want it fixed to move on to the next old age BS that is dished my way. Too bad about selling the ATV but I don't blame you on not giving it away. My thought is to price it higher than I want then when they want to deal you can get your real price. People are silly. Life is all a game. Yes I will miss the workshop sessions but also on the other hand glad I am not committed to going every Tuesday. I tell you I am lazy when it comes to doing things once I am home from work. If I could go straight to an occasion after work, I am fine, but once home forget it. Especially after getting up every day at 5. I am always glad once I go and get there. I put ice water in my Yeti cup yesterday at about 11:00 and still had a bit of ice this morning in it. Good cups but Walmart sells similar for about 11 bucks that my son swears are just as good. Today is your busy day. You need bullet proof coffee to keep you going. May the force be with you.
Best get busy, make it a great day/night. Hello to all you sweet ladies.
Morning
Not much has happened since my last post. Nephew had a ball game last night and spent the night with me. He said he got his with a line drive ball (below the belt) He was alright this morning. Made head way in the office yesterday. Maybe this afternoon I can finish. Found my old Metabolic Research Centers diet plan and am using that this week. I can already tell a difference.
Found some asparagus volunteer in the flower bed earlier this spring and it is really taking off. I'm going to stake it or get a tomato cage for it. I want to see what it does.
----------------
Annie
I know I will enjoy the riding mower. Sis said she would help me in the yard Saturday. I do want them to help me with the round flower bed in the front. It needs some work. Lets hope that the cortisone injection is all you need for now.
Happy
People will try to chew down the original price of any thing that a single person tries to sell. Don't blame you saying no.
Have a good day.
Ceejay – It’ll be fun to do the lawn on the riding mower. You’ll probably be able to do all the mowing in one session now. == Sounds like you’re all set with the new bench and music stand for your piano. == The boat-hiding story is interesting…I hope it doesn’t end up being a point of contention between the nephew and his wife. == My mom’s doing alright, but I can’t say she’s really settled in. She needs to buy some furniture for her living room, and she has a lot of framed pictures sitting around that need to be hung on the walls. I’m not going to get on her case about it until the 1-year mark…
Happy – Your volunteer work sounds rather frustrating lately. I hope you enjoy your day at home tomorrow! == Bummer the sale of the ATV didn’t work out. I agree with Annie – maybe adjust the pricing - or your mindset about how much you have to get out of it…
Annie - Awesome that you are so close to your goal weight!! How nice to be getting some clothes from your co-worker. == I hope you can get relief from your shoulder issue with just a cortisone shot. Didn’t Michelle have a shoulder surgery – I recall the recovery being a major PITA. == I’ve done planks in the pool in my aqua class. I like those better, lol. == I can do 12:45 on July 26th. Wednesday. I’ll block It out on my calendar.
Hellos to the rest of you. Shad, how’s your retirement going? I take it you survived S’s birthday party?? Susie, I hope this week at work wasn’t too over the top busy for you. Are you still doing work from home days on Thursdays??
==
I’m eating an apple, not too enthusiastically. I cored it and then chopped it into small pieces and of course that’s when I decided I didn’t want to eat the peel. So here I am slicing off the peel from little chunks of apple. I’m tempted to just toss it out because I’m not enjoying it, but I didn’t bring much for lunch – a packet of tuna with some miracle whip on a single slice of wheat bread along with some baby carrots – and I don’t want to be starving in another hour. So I’ll eat the apple.
I didn’t go to aqua fit the other night. Bf and I went out for dinner to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our first date. Last night’s dinner was leftovers. The side of pasta that came with my entrée from a restaurant meal we had over the weekend was enough for a meal for both bf and I! Okay, almost enough – I did get a bit hungry before bedtime. Ate some cheese and crackers.
Last night I did another one of the stretch routines from the dvd I borrowed from the library. Another good one. I might just have to purchase that dvd.
The official decision about our office making a move came out today - we'll be moving in November of next year. Just to a building kitty corner from ours, so not a big change to my commute. Except for each person’s “desk files”, most of our records are now electronic, so you'd think we wouldn't have much to move....but we do have a bunch of file drawers filled with stuff that’s rarely or never looked at. Hopefully it’s only a matter of either boxing and storing it offsite or heaving it into a dumpster. I have a lot of paper in my cubicle, but I’m not terribly attached to it. It won't be an issue to dump the excess well before I pack up my workspace.
Nothing much else to report, so I’ll get this posted. Have a good day everyone.
Last night's dinner was homemade KETO cheddar bay biscuits (Red Lobster style). They turned out magnificent. C and Sam both said they were pretty darn close to the real thing. I think they need just a bit more garlic powder. Also fixed Keto chicken salad. Both C and S would be straight keto if they just ate the chicken salad, but they cannot give up the bread that goes with. Also had a tomato/mozzarella salad on the side. I ate one of the biscuits and felt guilty, but it only had 2 net carbs if you make 6 biscuits with the recipe. I made 7, and they were still pretty nice in size.
Woke up to a poo fest. Bruno had the poo's overnight in his room/toy room/C'dvd room. OMGosh the stench. Sam was already up dealing with it. Had to throw his oversize bed away. His blanket wasn't too awful bad so it went straight to the washing machine. She got the mess cleaned up pretty well. Put some oxy clean for pets on the stains and closed the door. Thank goodness we have a carpet cleaner. That is next. She then went out in the back yard and gave Bruno a bath. All before 6:30 am. I left late for work as it was just too chaotic. Made us bullet proof coffee and ice water to get the day started. On to work for me. I can't wait till we have enough saved to rip out the carpet everywhere and put in wood/laminate floors. Kind of the last thing to get done and $$ saved towards.
HAPPY...DH is a hoot on FB with all his snarky answers to pets at the commune. I sat laughing at them last night. C said what is so funny? You wouldn't get it C. I would have to explain too much. lol. Hope you get to enjoy your day off from volunteering. You do know that when you start to dread going to do your volunteering or all the extra stuff you have to do, it is time to stop volunteering at that place. IMO. How you liking your hair? Wish I could be happy scrunching and going with my hair.
LAURA...ok great, where do you want to meet. What is around 10 S. Wacker? Don't make it too hard, remember blonde. lol. Happy 30th anniversary. Did you ever think that you would be with BF that long when it all started out? Probably so once you bought the house. wink wink. Is the move going to put you into a better/updated building or is your company going to revamp it?
CEEG...you sis is so sweet and her DH too, both so kind. Glad I got to meet them and you. Yard work on a riding mower sound fun to me. Hope you can get your flower bed just the way you want it. Hmmm, hidden boat that the nephew has sounds interesting. My ex used to say/do things like that when really it was all him.
Best get busy, short day for me I decided.
Everyone have a wonderful day/weekend. Make it awesome!
Location: A beautiful and peaceful place in the woods
Posts: 8,905
S/C/G: Stuck/Working on it/Good 2 Go
Height: Fun Size
Hi all,
Went to the office yesterday to work. Office doors were locked (I don't have a key), but the upstairs was opened. Eventually one of the workers came in but she left her key on her desk IN THE LOCKED OFFICE. Had to call around, finally one girl drove in (in her pjs) and she has lots of trouble with her car - had to find a jump before she could drive in and then had to sit there with the car running while we opened up because no guarantee her car would start again if she shut it off. All in all, we sat there 45 minutes before we could start work. Was ok, we had coffee and talked to the yoga teacher and the bus driver and I got a 45 minute reprieve from answering the phones. I only worked a half day, picked up lunch and we ate. I did a few things around the house - wanted to take a short nap before bingo but that didn't happen. Bingo was very busy. We gave away all our prize pots including the jackpot at $944 so my buddy was mad because we lost about $550 for the night. They tried doing a meat raffle for something a little different. Had 2 meat bundles. I bought extra chances because they were having a hard time selling them all and won 2 boneless ribeye steaks and a pound of ground beef. Nachos and fajitas or just grilled steaks and nachos this weekend. They worked on getting a liquor license so they could sell beer and wine at bingo. Bought beer and were all ready to serve it yesterday except OOPS - when they called the director to get the prices, they realized that only one person has a server's license (and one licensed person must be present to sell) and that person was not present. So no beer last night. Whew. They asked me if I would be willing to take the test and get licensed since I am there at bingo all the time. Ok then. When we were getting ready to leave - I was bemoaning the fact that it's getting too dark for me to drive around 9 when we finish. I was getting ready to drive off and I noticed 2 ladies waiting for their ride pick up. It was cool yesterday - all day was gray and kind of windy - felt like an autumn day. It was cool at night and they just had t-shirts on. It's very dead and quiet by the senior center at night - even with the county sheriff's office across the parking lot. I don't like anyone waiting alone so I sat there a minute and debated about the growing darkness for driving vs them waiting. So I pulled up and asked if they wanted to wait in my car for their ride. They were very grateful - especially when I turned the car heater on full blast! Took their ride about 20 minutes to show up - they said he drives really slow and they should have accepted a ride from one of the other bingo guests. God was with me on the way home - the entire 6 miles the streets were empty (on my side) and I was able to drive at 40 miles per hour - my biggest concern at night was deer running out into the road. Since I had cataract surgery my eyes are even more sensitive to oncoming headlights and in the Avalon I am lower to the ground than the SUV so they are even more in my eyes. There was a fair amount of traffic in the opposite direction. I cursed their bright lights and tried to avert my eyes to the right side lane marker so as not to be too distracted. Next week my "Uber driver" will start taking me to bingo again. Seems too early for it to get dark. Summer - at least what we are calling summer up here this year - is flying by too quickly. I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks with minimal outside activities.
Annie - bummer that Bruno was so sick. Do you think it was the heat? Meadow is having a pukefest herself lately and it's frustrating DH who does the carpet cleaning. I think it's because we fed her seafood and I think she is sensitive to it. Thing is, it takes several days for her system to settle down. Poor thing. I hope Bruno is better too. A shame you had to toss his big bed - I can imagine how expensive one that fit his size would be. Like a twin mattress almost So do you think bullet proof coffee is more effective than straight java? As much as I love butter, I can't get over the hump of putting butter into my coffee but then again - cream is unchurned butter, isn't it? What is keto biscuits? Or what are they made from? I would have a hard time stopping at just one so good for you. I really like my volunteer work - I'm just frustrated at people. There are no expectations any more - or should I say a standard of accountability / responsibility. That's what frustrates me. I have never noticed just how old school I truly am. Wow - I just looked at a map of 10 s Wacker. I guess I have not been downtown in 20 years Just like Las Vegas, I would not recognize the place any more. So even I'd get lost down there. But I do hope you find a convenient place to meet Laura. And that your meeting at work is somewhat productive. Is it a day in day out trip? That would be tiring.
Laura - happy anniversary - gosh that's a long time. Do you feel that time has flown by also? What is the reason to move office space? Probably a financial one no doubt. Good that it is not across town where you'd have to add a bus trip to the train commute. I have one fix for making a plain apple better - add peanut butter I have gotten so used to that that eating a plain apple is as you say - quite boring.
Ceejay - sounds like your nephew might like having 2 lives - he wants to be with family but it also sounds as if he might enjoy a bit of time away staying at your place. It is helpful however to you to have some extra hands around the house. Are you getting excited about your new mower coming? Is it an automatic? I was wondering - isn't it going to be awkward to have the music stand to the side of the organ / piano? Wouldn't you want one that sat on the ledge of the organ directly in front of you? Or have I gotten this all mixed up?
Hello to Shad and Susie
I am sort of sleepy - didn't get enough rest - woke up early with the sniffles - this past week I have sat next to 2 people who said they had colds and I am hoping I don't pick that up. Nothing worse than a summer cold. I have some laundry and clean up to do and my peaches are at about the last day for me to do something before I have to toss them so I am hoping to get the fruit cocktail canned like I wanted to. Don't know if we will go out to dinner tonight - we usually do on Friday but I have 2 refrigerators full of food and DH is going to mow today which means he will be busy and tired tonight. Maybe I just just plan on grilling steaks and a baked potato. Anyway - have a good weekend everyone.
Annie – Yum, those cheddar bay biscuits! What kind of “flour’ does the KETO recipe call for? == Poor Bruno, and what a thing for you and the family to wake up to! I hope it was a one-time deal and he’s feeling okay. I like Happy’s idea for a new dog bed – a mattress. Maybe a crib-sized one?? == What’s in the 10 s wacker building? I do know it’s where the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is located, and I know there’s a Chase Bank in there. Neither are helpful for our purposes, so I’ll have to pop in there and check it out. == Our current building and offices are nice, so I think it’s about getting a good deal on a new lease. The new digs are being revamped as to the public spaces/amenities, and of course our office space will be customized for us. I hear rumors about smaller cubes with shorter walls, fewer offices, more natural light, etc., but we’ll learn more about the plan at our next all-employee meeting (next month). I prefer to hear it from the horse's mouth, hehe.
Happy – Congrats on winning the meat raffle. But now your fridge will be really full - you better stay home and use up the food you have on hand. We had a bunch of leftovers in the fridge and ate most of them this week. Time to start again this weekend – we eat out way too much over the weekend. == Nice of you to let the bingo folks wait for their ride in your car. Yeh, I’d say the reason for the new space is certainly more financial than anything else. == Yeh, I wished I had peanut butter or some caramel dip for that apple. Apples have never been my favorite fruit…and now I think I don’t like the tart, very firm/crispy ones as much as I used to. But the soft, mushy ones are yuck. I’m just not much of an apple person I guess. == I hope you didn’t catch anything from the sickies!!
Hellos to the rest of you!! Have a great weekend.
==
So many annoying things we didn’t have to deal with 20 years ago. Lately, for me, it’s been my cell phone. All the space-hogging apps!! It’s a problem. And there are so many apps that can’t be removed or saved to the memory card we added – just because AT&T or Samsung won’t let it be done. And for those that can be moved to the memory card, they move back to the cell phone storage after being updated!! And these apps are constantly being updated. So bf says to turn off the setting which allows automatic updates. Now when I decide to update the app, I will (once again) move it to the memory card. I’ve tried to figure out how to set the memory card as the default location in which to install the apps, but I was unsuccessful. So this manual process will continue.
The paycheck is a bit smaller today thanks to the income tax rate increase that came into effect 7/1 for Illinois. If I thought the $$$ were going to be used responsibly, I wouldn’t be quite as disgruntled. But this is a corruption tax, as well as all of us paying the price now for previous administrations kicking the can down the road for decades as to funding our state’s pension obligations. And the tax increase really isn’t going to get very far in resolving any of our financial issues. I think it just held off the credit rating agencies from reducing our ratings to junk bond status. Okay, time to stop!!
Bf phoned this morning to tell me that the masons showed up this morning and began jackhammering the old limestone block out from the stoop – no advance notice whatsoever. What a rude awakening he had! But he did say they did a nice job. For the money they want, it better be a good job!
I finally decided on a new dentist and made an appointment. They had an opening on Monday evening, so that’s good. Close to home (next ‘burb over), they accept my insurance, and have good hours.
I have to go see my allergist because he won’t renew my prescription. So I think I’ll pick out a Friday, make an early morning appointment and then plan some “me time” after that. My work calendar is still clear for the next two Fridays, so I’m going to make an appointment quick and schedule a vacation day before it gets filled.
No plans this weekend!! Might try to finally finish digging out that one garden bed. Not sure how wet the soil is – we had an awful lot of rain the other night, and it was very humid for several days this week. Oh, need to upright my double shepherd’s hook – it fell over and ended up landing against the fence the other night. No damage to the fence or the planters. Glad it didn’t fall the other way – the planters would have crashed to the ground and it would have been a big mess.
Okay, that’s it for me. Everyone have a safe and happy weekend.
Hi all,
I'm still here, just been awfully busy since I came back from Adelaide. I have been reading the posts but not replying to anything.
Not much to yap on about, better go and rescue my stewed apples before they burn. Back later. Just wanted to let you know I am alive and kicking - well digging and painting mostly.
Location: A beautiful and peaceful place in the woods
Posts: 8,905
S/C/G: Stuck/Working on it/Good 2 Go
Height: Fun Size
Good morning ladies,
Quick hi yah from me. We are taking the ATV out for a ride and going to Sunday breakfast. Might as well use the thing. Yesterday we went on a farm tour to a local place - we had the chef's table dinner there last week and I often buy things from her twice a month farmer's market here in town. Boy that was amazing. They have chickens, ducks, lambs, cows, turkeys, in ground vegetables, tented vegetables, a hydroponics greenhouse and tilapia (fresh fish). Everything is geared to sustainable. The fish generate nutrients for the hydroponic garden, the chicken manure not only fertilizes but creates nutrients for the grasses the livestock feed on. It was really fasinating. AND they do it all with only 4 people!!!! Oh and they give music concerts, comb the wool from the lambs and make yarn, run a creamery for milk and cheese, have a berry farm AND they have a cafe open 6 days a week where they sell breakfast and lunch and wood fired pizzas and have a homemade gelato bar with at least 6 flavors. I am astounded. It was really interesting.
Ok just realized I have to get ready to leave in 30 minutes. Back later today.
Doc thinks I may have a torn rotaror cuff. I have to call to schedule an MRI. Bleh, as we just got all our medical bills paid off. Get this taken care of next move is to see about my knee and maybe get a cortisone shot in it.
Keep forgetting / other things get in the way. The hamster wheel is turning too fast. DH said the garden took a terrible beating with the hail last Thursday. I have to see if it's worth hanging on to. DH cleaned up the UTV yesterday - the buyers are supposed to come tonight to pick it up. I am still sad and quite a bit mad that we lost half the value in 3 short years where we barely used it. That was certaining a huge waste of money. I am fearful the same is true of the pontoon boat. 
So I agreed to this Thursday forgetting that I have to do bingo and that would put my day at getting up at 6am to be there by 8am. Working the phones until 4pm and then going upstairs (not enough time to go home and rest a bit) and then doing bingo until 9pm. I don't think I can hold up that long any more. 
I am working again at the center next Wednesday. I am working at the shop this morning but then taking the last 2 weeks of the month off since I will be busy getting the fund raiser going. We are running into a shortage of people to help out at the shop. But I would really like to take most of August off of everything. My partner at the shop and bingo is going on vacation for almost 3 weeks the end of August and that means I will have double duty responsibility so I think I will be selfish and take some time off myself. DH asked why I agreed to the senior center and I said I don't know, I did say I'd help (though my intention was not for a full day's work). I am a stupid sucker...
How nice that you had a great time at the water park and you were brave enough to go down the water slide! Your brother is right to some degree about keeping busy. It seems when people slow down or in the case of my Mom get progressively more homebound - when you have no purpose or distractions one tends to dwell on the sad side of life and it's bad for the mental and eventually physical side of life. It's good he's still working IF he enjoys his work and it's not just a drudge of the death march. Any word on C selling off his route? Did you wind up getting a new boss? Yum - grilled salmon on a Strawberry Spinach salad sounds yummy - I have all those ingredients at home - thanks for the menu idea!! Oh and my former partner at the Thrift Shop came to bingo last week. She decided to do low carb - maybe not full on keto - but she is loving it. Said it's been the most successful eating plan she's been on in years. 
I wondered with those programs that provide 2 meals as part of the package if people would take advantage of that. I get a 2 month menu from the senior center and really only about 1/3 of it appeals to me. The other third is "ok" and then there are some days like liver and onions day that I'd rather go hungry 
although they always have an alternate available. I looked at the menu where my sister's husband's aunt lives. They have a special of the day and then you can get a salad (vegetarian option) or a burger or chicken sandwich. It's a limited menu - something like that I can see people not getting excited about. Aunt J is more into the camaraderie of eating with her group of buddies than the food itself. Let me know what you think of the Twin Peaks series. It peaked my interest also but I have a bunch of movies tying up my cable recorder and I was mildly curious about joining Hulu to see The Handmaid's Tale. So many things, so little time 
Got 2 paid people - think they'd cover for each other???? Oh well. I probably will continue the thrift shop in August - just not the next 2 weeks. I forgot my friend signed up and she is doing this to help me out so I kinda have to do it. BUT am taking the next 2 weeks "off". To work on the fundraiser. 
Ha ha with Sassy the sleep sack - Nina is like that too when SHE decides to lay down and sleep. Nothing moves her. I have a Yeti cooler that I won and I put ice in it to keep some spare fruit and drinks cold. I also had DH buy a small bag of ice and put it in a regular cooler - I was going to use it later. The small bag of ice lasted less than 24 hours while the Yeti keeps ice cubes for at least 4 days. They are definitely worth the high price. I don't know about keeping foods hot - I guess the insulation is such that it would. Usually I rely on the drink container (I use a Thermos brand) and it keeps hot for 12 hours, cold for 24. And that works as stated. Too bad you aren't doing the pool thing for your last workshop of the season. Will you miss those sessions? Something to take their place? 
!!!
How nice to be getting some clothes from your co-worker. == I hope you can get relief from your shoulder issue with just a cortisone shot. Didn’t Michelle have a shoulder surgery – I recall the recovery being a major PITA. == I’ve done planks in the pool in my aqua class. I like those better, lol. == I can do 12:45 on July 26th. Wednesday. I’ll block It out on my calendar. 
Last night’s dinner was leftovers. The side of pasta that came with my entrée from a restaurant meal we had over the weekend was enough for a meal for both bf and I! Okay, almost enough – I did get a bit hungry before bedtime. Ate some cheese and crackers. 
What is keto biscuits? Or what are they made from? I would have a hard time stopping at just one so good for you. I really like my volunteer work - I'm just frustrated at people. There are no expectations any more - or should I say a standard of accountability / responsibility. That's what frustrates me. I have never noticed just how old school I truly am. 
Just like Las Vegas, I would not recognize the place any more. So even I'd get lost down there. But I do hope you find a convenient place to meet Laura. And that your meeting at work is somewhat productive. Is it a day in day out trip? That would be tiring. 
We had a bunch of leftovers in the fridge and ate most of them this week. Time to start again this weekend – we eat out way too much over the weekend. 
== Nice of you to let the bingo folks wait for their ride in your car. 
And these apps are constantly being updated. So bf says to turn off the setting which allows automatic updates. Now when I decide to update the app, I will (once again) move it to the memory card. I’ve tried to figure out how to set the memory card as the default location in which to install the apps, but I was unsuccessful. So this manual process will continue. 
