[Maggie]

HOWDY MAGNOLIAS

It is another beautiful day in the neighborhood with a slight breeze ~ NO wind. I have some cube steaks out to thaw for dinner and will make a baker and tossed salad to go with. Not much happening here on the home front this day. Will is making a picture frame for a gal at the coffee shop and the dogs are helping. Cecil is asleep on the bed with the door shut so he doesn't get bothered. He likes to take his nap in there where the dogs can't get to him and want to play. I know that because he told me.

I hope all y'all are having a wonderful Saturday. Type I will later.

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! It's been a weird day for weather; rain, sunshine, wind, etc., etc., etc. It's prom night here so I feel sorry for the kids wanting to take outside pictures. I went to the grocery store this morning and have been doing laundry. Otherwise, I've read the papers and mail then done squat nothing most of the day.

Maggie -- I sure don't envy Paul his long drive to and from work although I know people do drive great distances to get to work these days. Not much is going on at our house today either. I feel lazy after my challenge with the printing machine yesterday.

Bob is going to run an errand and wash my car so guess I will ride along. Enjoy the rest of the daylight hours and your evening!

[gma22]

Afternoon girls. I think I am spinning my wheels as I seem to keep forgetting to get in here everyday. I wanted to get a lot of things done yesterday and just zoned out I guess.

We are leaving in about 10 minutes to go to Thomas's concert. This is a paid one with another school I believe. Thomas is in concert band and I believe that is the band group that is performing for his school this evening. It is a chance for Jack to get to hear them as he was sick for the school one.

We accomplished absolutely nothing today. We were both just dog tired and just lazed around today for the most part. I some daily chores done, but that's about all. Tomorrow we are going to kick in and get the deck washed off, get the rug in the living room shampooed as Fortune has thrown up on it again. I want to do some cleaning again so that's the plan for tomorrow.

Maggie: Sounds like Paul is going to have a difficult time. Jack worked in Chicago for a year and drove 2.5 hours one way so he was on the road almost as long as a work day everyday. On top of that, getting stuck in Chicago rush hour traffic every morning and evening. It was a good job, but the company went belly up and he got laid off after a year. Maybe sooner or later they will make some kind of concessions between the two of them.

Jean: Wow you had a time of it with the paper copying. I remember the bad old days when I used to have to run off stuff on a mimeograph. What a mess that was and the fumes almost killed you. I read an article a while back about how racy prom dresses have gotten. The girls look like street walkers for heaven's sake.

Well, we need to leave so I am going to get out of here. Have a nice Saturday all! Faye

[gma22]

Good morning to you all. We had a lovely time at the concert last night. The school band played three pieces that the city's volunteer band played and they were wonderful. They have a great conductor and like I said all the people are volunteers. It is an adult band and they did selection pieces from Disney, Oklahoma, a couple John Williams arrangements, it was great. The kids did one piece at the end with members of the adult band and that was it. It was a very enjoyable evening.

I am having some real difficult times today with the female stuff. I have been on this med for about 6 weeks now so I guess it has begun to do what it is supposed to do, but it is causing a lot of discomfort, which makes doing things difficult at times. I just put one foot in front of the other.

I talked to Jackson on the phone this morning and that is always fun. He and his dad were putting together the Hot Wheels track I bought him for Christmas last year. They are leaving for Orlando at the end of the week so of course is he really excited about that too. He has always gone to visit his new school for the fall and is over the moon that they have basketball hoops. His dad says he is all in to basketball now and he may put him in a little kids league for a bit, which I think is a great idea.

I am trying to get a bunch of laundry caught up again. We sure do go through the clothes and towels. I am doing sheets today too so that is more laundry to get done.

Other than that, nothing exciting here. Jack has his semi yearly cardiology appt on Wed so he is taking the day off. It will be nice to have him around!

You gals have a very nice day today. It is still cool today, but nice and sunny. Faye

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTRNOON MAGNOLIAS

It is a beautiful day of 68 degrees here and everything looks so lovely outside. Seems on Suncay the grass is greener and the flowers are prettier and the blue skies are brighter with the sun shining. I love Sunday's. This day I wore an outfit that I haven't had on since last spring and it was a tad too big which is a good thing. The pants are cream color linnen and the top is crochet lavendar with a lavender three quarter sleeved T shirt underneath. The top I can wear for a while longer but the pants are iffy. Maybe I can take them in though for I do have the know how. Anyway what a lovely treat to have a nice outfit that I am shrinking out of. I like my clothes loose but not baggie if you get my drift. For lunch we went out to our favorite Chinese place and I made good choices. Tonight I will eat lightly.

JEAN Hope the weather is nice so those kids can take some good pictures for their memory boquet. We should be getting some showers later on this week but in the meantime I am enjoying the blue skies and sunshine. I am looking forward to the "farmers market" and seeing if the lady that makes that lovely soap is there again this year. We have been getting some wonderful strawberries grown out in CA in the town where I went to high school way back in the days of yore. They have huge strawberry fields out there.

DONNA FAYE It is good that you have been busy. That concert you went to sounds lovely. I love "good" music. When I was in school the local concert society selected a few of us girls to work as usserettes for the concerts and we got in free that way and saw some wonderful performances. They had performers from all over the states come to perform. It was a lot of "eye candy" during my formative years in school. In my humble opinion a drive to work longer than a half hour, or there abouts, is too much ~ at least for me. I did know some guys out in CA that flew their small planes to work as pilots for LA airport and it took just a few minutes to get there that way, but would have taken a few hours if they had driven their vehicles, with all that traffic pouring out of the canyons, into the valley below.

SUSAN I hope this day is going well with you.

Have a great afternoon/evening Magnolias. Type at y'all later.

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers! It's been another day of changing weather -- cool 51 degrees, a few rain sprinkles, breezy, cloudy, and the sun came out just in time to set. We spent the morning at church; went to early service, then a birthday coffee between the two services, and finally a fund raiser bar-b-q put on by the high school youth. This afternoon I spent trying to get in touch with my card club gals. The hostess, for tomorrow night, called and she could hardly talk saying she's been sick for a few days and couldn't have it, but would plan on it for the next Monday night. I offered to call everyone else, and of course, some were home and some were not.

"Gma" -- I'm glad you and Jack were able to attend the concert and enjoyed it. It sounds like my kind of music! I always liked the smell of the mimeograph ink. The printer, at church, makes a master copy then runs however many copies needed. You have to make a new master each time you change a page to copy. The copy machine is much easier but more expensive and not as fast. I'm used to the schools copy machine that goes so fast you can hardly see the pages flip by and this church copier is like watching paint dry. It doesn't seem possible Jackson will go to school next year.

Maggie -- I need to dig for some spring clothes as I can't imagine what I wore last year. It's always an "upper" to fit back into something that was too tight. We've been getting good strawberries but I'm not sure where they are from. The sign just says "grown in the U. S." We watched the same little boat cross from one side of the bay to the other, each morning when we were in the first place we stayed in Maui. The guys looked through binoculars and decided the guy must be going to work and then going home at night.

I am heading to bed to read for a bit. Wishing you all a marvelous Monday tomorrow!

[gma22]

Good morning to you all. It is a chilly 48 at the moment. I am freezing, but I refuse to turn on the furnace for just a couple hours until it warms up so I will sit in a sweater and blanket I guess.

I am back to working on my sweater for the cruise. I have to finish the wrap, but it is mojair and I can only knit on it so long before it scratches my hands too much. I am a good 2/3 done with the sweater front, have the back done so I am whizzing along. I told Kelly I would make them mittens for their trip too. They want to wear them over gloves so I have to make men's sizes I think to fit. I did find a pattern and they want 100% wool so I found the yarn and emailed her the pic of the mittens and the link to the yarn site so as soon as she okays everything and orders and has the yarn shipped to me, I guess I will be making multiple mittens!

This medicine has caused me issues all weekend and I am still not 100% today so I am going to just take it easy and knit I guess. I have to take the Mariner to the adjuster on Thursday so they can start repairs. Since there are two insurance companies involved other than ours and they are passing the buck on who owes what, we are just going to have Geico fix the suv then they can retrieve the money from the insurance company. I just want my deductible back! Thank goodness it isn't really high. I don't think we should have to pay a deductible if we didn't cause the accident, but that's the rules, you use your own insurer you pay the deductible and then maybe get the money back. My son said to keep on them because his insurer would always try to keep the deductible amount when the claim was paid in full. We shall see. I can go online to Geico and see what is paid on the claim, including deductible reimbursement. Hopefully, they wouldn't be dishonest and not put the full claim paid on there like they are supposed to. We shall see. Anyway, I take it in on Thursday and pick up the rental car since that was the first day we could get and Jack can't take off work.

It seems we have had one expense after another ever since we decided to go on this cruise, plumbing, the garbage disposal, the car accident, I keep dipping into savings to pay for this unexpected stuff and it has to stop! I guess it is always something though.

Jean: We had these huge fancier copiers at the law firm that would drive us all nuts. They did all kinds of things like collate, staple, two sided, etc, etc, but they would jam up like the cheap ones. They drove us crazy and the things probably cost $10000 apiece. Sounds like church functions have been super busy lately. The kids are going to Orlando this weekend and of course Jackson can't wait. It will be his first trip. I will have to email Alicia and tell her to have Jackson pick out a magnet for me from his vacation like Thomas does to put on my fridge.

Maggie: I am looking forward to good fresh tomatoes. That is the one thing I am ultra picky about in produce is good tomatoes. I hate those hot house deals. We had chinese this weekend too. Jack went and got us some on Saturday since we hadn't had any in a long, long time. He always gets shrimp fried rice and boy they put in a lot of really big shrimp. They used to use those baby shrimp, but these were full size and they put a good bunch in. I like my asian noodles so had chicken lo mein, which is my favorite.

Well girls, I have to get going. You all have a great week! Faye

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! The sun is shining and the wind is NOT blowing; it's a beautiful "no coat" day in my neighborhood! I was busy at church this morning and the time flew. I've got the gift shop deposit ready and think I will go to the Hallmark store and pick up a couple sympathy cards.

"Gma" -- I had to at you knitting multiple mittens after the monkey hats! Working on your sweater or wrap will give you a nice break. I was under the impression if the accident wasn't your fault, there isn't any charge for you. I will ask my insurance man. Knock on wood, we've never had to use our car insurance except when Jason totaled his in high school. It was his fault, so we had to pay for the other car too. That guy admitted, to the police officer, he was speeding, but Jason got the ticket since he was turning left. The oncoming car was in a blind spot and Jason didn't see him. Chinese sounds good. Our local restaurant has a buffet and Cashew Chicken is my favorite, but it's rarely in the buffet line.

Bob has a board meeting at 5 so think supper will be simple -- leftovers. Enjoy the rest of your day!

[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

It is a bright sunshine day in the 70’s this day and come Thur, Fri & Sat they say we will have rain which will surely be welcomed. The dogs are at the groomer and Cecil is lonesome. I showed a “maintain” today and that is what it is. Just stayed the same and will surely show a loss next weigh day, hopefully anyway. I just got up to open the bedroom door so Cecil could get on the bed for his nap. He was sitting in the hall meowing at the door telling it to open up so I obliged. I’ll be back to finish this in a bit for we are leaving now on some errands.

We went to the store for milk and picked up the dogs from the groomer and had a nice drive around town. Went by the place the museum is thinking about moving to for more space to check it out. Got coffee and so I now have my sf ff Latte to sip on while I type. The dogs smell so good I wish it would last. I will be making chicken noodle soup for dinner this day so that will be an easy meal to contend with later on this day. Not much else happening here this day in the sunny ♥-Land to speak of.

DONNA FAYE Mittens over gloves ~ double duty to keep out the cold. Your hands sure keep busy with all your knitting projects. I wonder how many calories you burn while knitting. I know I don’t burn many when I am doing glass. We are in the good hands of Allstate so don’t have to worry about if they are going to pay or not. They have always taken care of it all for us since we have not had anything done that was “our fault.” I really do feel we are in good hands having them. They send us where to go for the estimates and it has always worked out well. I have been with them since I was a teen first driving and never have had a problem.

JEAN Isn’t it wonderful when the wind doesn’t’ blow. I rejoice when we have a day with just a tad bit of a breeze. Hallmark is a wonderful place to shop. Hope you find what you want. Bet they are getting in new things already for the holidays.

SUSAN Hello out there. I think I hear you rusteling pepers. How is it coming with the cat training?

I need to get gong this day and do my exercises. Out and about time was taken when I usuly use it for my session so I do need to shake a leg and get going on it. Type at y'all later.

[QuilterInVA]

Good morning, ladies. A cool 54 degrees with sunshine after 3 days of rain.

The quilting retreat was a lot of fun and they asked me to come back to the fall retreat and teach again. I may also teach a few classes for the shop in the meantime.

Casper is proving to be a quick learner. I using American Sign Language to teach him simple things. So far he knows down and come. Now we are working on eat and drink. I take him to the vet tomorrow for his check up. After we go see her, I'm putting a harness on him and then in a few days I'll try the leash. I'm going to teach him to walk on a leash and that will get me out and walking more, too. He runs from window to window watching birds and squirrels and the ducks.

The AARP group Fat2Fit lost its administrator and they have asked me to take over and keep the group going which I will do.

I'm at work so I'll have to type at you all later. Have a wonderful day.

[Maggie]

GOOD EARLY AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

It is 93ºs as I type this beautiful sunny day. Beanie is outside, Ragg mop is asleep on the carpet in the hall right outside my office and Cecil is snoozing on the bed behind closed doors. Will is at a presentation he is giving to some club in town about the guns that are in the museum. Life is good. He has taken several he has cleaned up for “show and tell.” One of the gentlemen at the meeting has a huge collection of old guns himself that he has offered Will and me the opportunity to take a look at. He doesn’t let many people view them for he is a very “private” individual when it comes to what he has. I think that he might just want Will to clean some of them for him. It is coming up on lunch time and I have some frozen dinners I can choose from to eat with my chopsticks when I get off here.

I have yet to decide what I am going to fix for dinner this day. I think I will wait till Will gets home and ask him if there is something he is hungry for. There will still be time to thaw whatever his choice is in time for dinner. Such a nice day he may just want to grill out back this afternoon. In the meantime I am planning on backing some Krustaez muffins this day. They freeze so well wrapped in paper towels and then in plastic bags. When they are heated up they taste like fresh baked. l like to get them all ready for the freezer before we out on them. Will is doing so much better of late on his choices and has cut back ~ way back ~ on his junk food consumption. My getting a one point+ bar when we go to Dairy Queen has gotten his attention without my saying anything but how good they are. He has discovered they are as good as I said when he finally tried one. There were times when we go to Dairy queen when I would just get a container of ice water. I have packets of flavoring and fiber in the glove compartment that I make myself a nice zero point+ drink out of to sip on while he eats his choice. I actually don’t feel a bit deprived by doing it this way because I know it is better for my program. He buys those 1 point+ bars by the box now and we have them in the freezer here at home. I also have some Schwan’s Pops in the freezer that are zero points+ and come in a mix of three flavors: orange, grape, and cherry. They come 24 to a box, which makes them 27ȼ each. One of those on a hot day sure hits the spot.

SUSAN Isn’t it fun to train your cat since he is a quick learner. I know you will be a great leader for the AARP group. Do they pay some for the leader? Will you still be working for your local WW? Looks like you will be keeping busy being along with being the instructor at your quilting affairs and those other endeavors you have undertaken. Being busy is good. The that you have been getting surely put a smile on the faces of the ones in your area that grow veggie gardens.

Have a great afternoon Magnolias. Type at y'all later.

[Jean]

Good Afternoon, Flowers! I couldn't get in here earlier this morning for whatever reason. It's another beautiful day in my neighborhood, sunny and NO wind again today. Beth turns 34 today and it was snowing on that day so many years ago. This morning I stopped by the church office to explain some of my notes to the secretary. She didn't come in again today, the custodian took the day off, it's the pastor's regular day off, and the program director was there alone. I sorted the mail and took a couple phone calls then left. We have soccer games this afternoon and I had a few things I wanted to get done at home before we leave.

We had our contractor come over last night and are toying with the idea of adding on a 3 season room or just expanding the area we did add on. To expand as a room probably means a new furnace, but then we could definitely use it year around. It's on the west side of the house so otherwise would put in electric heat and be able to use it most of the time.

Maggie -- on the maintain yesterday! I haven't been to WW for a couple weeks and really need to get back. Lately the meetings haven't been as inviting for some reason. Wow! It is definitely summer temps in your neighborhood today. The computer says it is 66 right now with a wind chill of 65. The makes me chuckle!

Susan -- I'm glad you enjoy teaching the quilt classes. Are the gals beginners or you're just teaching them something new they didn't know already? Casper sounds like he is right at home. Supposedly a cat can't get out of a harness but we had one who did. She was my "skinny minnie" cat and went beserk and out of it in the blink of an eye. I'm not familiar with the Fat2Fit program. Is it available online too? You will have fun with it, I'm sure.

I hear the dryer buzzing so need to fold some towels. Hope you all have a terrific Tuesday and enjoy!

[Maggie]

GOOD EARLY AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS

It is now a sunny 97º day here in the ♥-Land and the current time is 4:30 in the pm. I have not done much this day but did get in my walking time which I am adding a minute each day inside until I reach 20 minutes then perhaps on nice days I will walk outside. I have been neglecting to keep track or do my walking each day except Sunday as I had planned so I made myself a little chart to keep with my food tracker leather binder. I have in place exercises I like to do but the walking just somehow got shoved into the wayside. I set a timer and put it into my pocket and that helps keep me going. I keep my other exercise equipment in a basket here in my office and have vowed not to just let them stay in that basket. Since the weather has gotten better and winter is over with I am more inclined to do more for “myself” if you know what I mean. OH ~ my lunch was so good ~ it was the Sweet & Sour Chicken and Rice light meal from Schwan’s which I added some sprinkles of red pepper flakes and a tad bit of soy sauce to and enjoyed every bite. It cost me 9 Points+ but worth every point for it was my first meal of the day and leaves me plenty for a nice dinner. Will is going to grill a steak for dinner and we will split a baked potato and have some corn on the cob and green tossed salad. Will said his presentation to the Lions Club went well this day and that there will be some good donations come to the Museum from them now. However the food was bland and that made him appreciate my cooking all the more. He said who ever made that meal doesn't know spices like I do. Weird ~ there isn't an Optomatrist in town here that takes insurance anymore. Looks like we have to make a trip to a big city for Will to get new glasses.

JEAN That will be a wonderful addition to your home. How nice that you are going to do that and have a good year round room or at least good for 3 seasons. Maybe you can fix it so you can use it year round. Sometimes we just need to give ourselves a good kick in the rear to get going again with the WW program. Anything that we Magnolias can help you with just let us know. I myself have needed a nice swift kick in the rear on occasion down this road to thin.

Have a great evening Magnolias. Type at y'all later.

[Maggie]

GOOD MORNING MAGNOLIAS

Oh my we are in for some weather this coming week. It is currently 80ºs and sunny without any clouds in the air with the expected high today of 95ºs. However, starting tomorrow through next Tuesday we are in for storms. Hopefully these expected storms will bring some measurable rain. Not much happening yet this day for I am getting a slow start. I will get my walking in after I finish my morning coffee then go from there on what needs to be done this day. The operative word is “needs” but things may change when I wake up completely. I am just easing into the world at this point. One thing I do need to do this day is color my hair ~ so that will be done before my shower this day.

It is such a beautiful day what we planned to BBQ yesterday will be done this day for Will didn’t want to do it last evening so we had tacos inside instead. This may be the last day in awhile to BBQ since the rest of the week is said to be stormy. We will do it for the noon meal since tonight is Bible study night. I love the springtime storms.

School is getting out and there are “help wanted” signs up at most of the eating joints in town. Lots of the college kids go home for the summer. The ones from overseas are the ones that stay here the summer and work. A young man and a lady from Germany and a young lady from China will stay and work at the museum. Will said they are all great kids and very smart and inquisitive which is good. The young lady from Germany helps Will with the translation of the writing on some of the rifles that were used in WWII. She is fluent in several languages. Smart kid.

Paul and his wife have finally settled on a house in Salina so he will be moving the first part of next month. I don’t envy his long commute. That basement bedroom is here whenever he needs a place to crash. That is if we don’t have other company using it but this house is big and we can certainly find a place for him to crash in it. We are looking for JD to come back for a visit.

Have a great day Magnolias. Type at y'all later.

[Jean]

Good Morning, Flowers! It's a sunny, breezy, and warm day in my corner of the world today. After a hot day yesterday, we are supposed to be back down in the 50s for a few days. I went to get my nails filled this morning, then spent an hour on the phone with a friend from Bob's hometown. He wanted me to send a couple sympathy cards and I had no addresses.

Maggie -- I need to get back outside and walk, walk, walk! I have been lax, VERY lax, in working the program the last few days, weeks, and months. It sounds like we are in the same weather pattern although we aren't as hot as you, nor have I heard anything about storms on the way. So far it's just supposed to be cooler. Hope your coloring job turns out to your satisfaction.

Bob will be home soon and I need to think about something for lunch. Enjoy a wonderful Wednesday!