[Maggie]

♪♥♫ GOOD AFTERNOON IN MAY MAGNOLIAS ☺♫

We just got back from picking up the dogs from the groomer and going by Walmart. It is another hot day here in the ♥-Land with just a slight breeze and a sky full of beautiful fluffy white clouds. While we were at the store I opted to stay in the Jeep. Will was shopping for the dogs ~ time to give them tick and flee medicine. They are fresh from the groomer and a good time to administer it. Don’t want them getting any diseases from those biting critters. I sat there with windows down and enjoying the day talking to the folks who walked by and telling to have a wonderful day. I like doing that for it puts a nice smile on their faces and a pep in their walk. Will also bought me time for my “throw away” phone. It can even take pictures! I dumped my Blackberry phone and this flip-phone is enough for me.

We also went by the farm implement place and were looking at the way a small chicken wire chicken cage is built. We can easily build one like it when we are in Texas. Our friend there will be happy to see they are cared for when we are out traveling. We plan on making a nice chicken wired lined picket fence to keep our animals safe and other animals out of our little yard. We also plan on container gardening while there and buy a calf or two to put in the pen with the ones our friend has and to butcher when the time comes to have some good home grown beef. I can see it all in my “minds eye” and container gardening will work well in that yard. Now I don’t know if we will have a pig wallow to run a couple of pigs in there but I bet we could make one easily enough in a corner of that pasture close to the barn.

DONNA FAYE We would like some more rain if you could please send it our way. I thing it very sad that they are closing the commissaries down.

Always remember ~ Never, never, never give up

[gma22]

Good morning everyone. It is muggy and sticky this morning with more rain predicted then a bit of sunshine tomorrow then rain again tomorrow evening. This all adds up to lots of mosquitos so I hope they get out and start spraying soon to keep them at bay.

Going to work on the downstairs today. I think I will hold off mopping until the rain moves through completely though as Jack tracks in stuff all the time.

I strung Kelly's necklace yesterday, attached the lobster clasp, went to do the jump ring and discovered she never gave me a jump ring so it will have to sit until I can get somewhere and get one for it. I am pretty peeved about it and don't plan on driving across town to buy a 25 cent jump ring. I will go to Michaels or Hobby Lobby or someplace and get them. It took me awhile to do as I had to separate all the different components, count them all and then figure out how to pattern them. I also had to make sure they were even since I had to "anchor" beads so it had to be equal on each side.

I am up a couple lbs, but considering I am going through this female stuff again it is no surprise. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Maggie: You can have my rain if I could ship it. I read an article the other day about a lot of people in town raising chickens! I doubt the home owners association would approve of us having chickens!

Everyone have a great Thursday!! Faye

[Maggie]

♪♥♫ GOOD AFTERNOON IN MAY MAGNOLIAS ☺♫

It is another hot day here in the ♥-Land. Will is at the museum and then when he gets home around 3 we will go out and about on our drive and pick up whatever we need at a store. Then he has a meeting of the board at the museum tonight. I have dinner planned for afterwards @ 7pm for I am going to make a pot of spaghetti with the leftover sauce I froze last week. It will be an easy meal to make and we can open a seedless watermelon which has been chilling in the fridge.

I don’t know if any of you use hand wipes but I just want to say I love having one of the Wet Ones® with me when we go out and about. They are individually wrapped wipes that kill 99.99% of germs. They have a nice citrus scent and are so handy to have along. I put one in my shirt pocket before I go out the door and also keep some in the glove box in the Jeep. They have come in handy so many times that I don’t want to be without one of them. A must use after using a public rest room for sure. I am glad to see that some of the restaurants are putting pump bottles of the liquid kind out for patrons to use as they come or go from the establishment.

It is time for me to go through the many cataloges I get and load up a trash bag with them. I am on lists of places that I never heard of. Some have interesting things in then that will work well in the MH so I put them aside.

DONNA FAYE We aren't allowed to have chickens in town here probably because folks would get a noisy rooster that would sound off early when the sun came up. Sounds like you are really getting involved in stringing beads.

Always remember ~ Never, never, never give up

[Jean]

Good Afternoon! It's been another nice day in my neighborhood but I haven't been home most of the day. Our crafty club went on a road trip to a little town not too far away. There were nine of us and we visited a nice home decorating store/flower shop, then an antique store, and finally had lunch in an old building that had been redone with the metal ceilings, woodwork, etc. The restroom has two big stalls, one is for handicapped and the other has a regular size toilet and a small child's toilet -- cute. The restaurant is called Tea with Lillian; Lillian is the owners' granddaughter. After lunch we headed down the highway to a quilt shop. Not being a quilter, I learned what a wood iron is. It was fun to look at all the fabric and quilt samples.

Maggie -- We've never had a garden where we live now even though we have a huge yard and plenty of room. We didn't have a garden when I was growing up whereas Bob did. He had his quota of garden work when he was a kid. We do Farmer's Market now. We always have Wet Ones in both vehicles. I don't use the antiseptic gel on the advice of the dermatologist when I was having so much trouble with eczema on my fingers.

"Gma" -- I can imagine how frustrating, for you, to not have the parts you need to fix the necklace. It sounds like the so-called bead teacher wasn't very attentive. You will have the pounds gone along with some friends. You can do it!

I need to dream up something for supper so better get to it! Enjoy your evening!

[gma22]

Good morning to you all. We are in for a day full of rain and mugginess today. I have already had to turn on the AC because the house while not hot, was sticky.

I found a jump ring and finished Kelly's necklace. I hope she likes it. It is pretty simple and I don't know if I will continue to do bead stuff since I took the class specifically to learn so I could restring her necklace, but maybe.

Working some more on the house today. Our dining room is beginning to look like a hoarders only neater. Until we start the reno, I have no place to put stuff. We are going to start getting rid of stuff next year though and get some of the painting done at least to get a head start. We are also going to replace storm doors and maybe put this stuff on the deck with a roller that is permanent and we won't have to deal with staining or whatever anymore.

I am having a devil of a time finding wrinkle release spray so I decided just to buy it online. I went to Target, WM, Kroger, and the commissary and none of them have it. I found it online at a place called soap.com so will order it there and get more Bonine along with it for the trip.

Jean: Sounds like a fun trip. I would have enjoyed looking at all the stuff. I got my fill of garden stuff when I was a kid too. Every summer I got to look forward to snapping beans for canning, capping strawberries, steming cherries, and peeling tomatoes, peaches, pears, you name it. Both my grandmother and mother canned a lot and I got farmed out both places to help. We aren't talking containers, we are talking bushels of stuff. UGH!

Maggie: I carry wipes everywhere I go and carry a little hand wash bottle of the gel on my key ring. I don't like using sink facilities to wash my hands most places so I use my handy dandy hand wash. I use it at home all the time too. I know they say not to overdue the stuff as it kills good as well as bad bacteria, but for me, it works and I haven't been sick with cold or flu stuff for a long time even when Jack gets sick. I also use antibacterial dish soap, windex, and Lysol wipes and spray at home.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. We are going to miss working outside this weekend as everything is too wet to blow and rake and such. I want to get it cleaned up!!! Faye

[Jean]

Good Evening! It has been a rather strange day here with sunshine, clouds, a cloud burst for about 15 minutes, more sunshine, and the humidity getting higher as the day went along. I had my nails done first thing this morning and then braved the grocery store. We headed to Sioux Falls for an early baseball game. We were about 20 minutes away when Jason called and said the game had been postponed because of rain. The sun was shining on us! So we met them at the Pizza Ranch for supper and a nice visit. They have a separate room for parties or larger families so we always go in there. Amanda's mom came shortly after we got there so spent a couple hour visiting and catching up. We gave the kids money to keep them busy in the game room.

"Gma" -- I, too, wish you could share your rain. We could use a day of gentle rain. I assume the wrinkle release spray must work. I've never see it around here. Whenever Bob buys new dress shirts he always makes a big deal about reading the tag saying "wrinkle free." Then he says to the clerk, "yep, the wrinkles sure are free!" I really like the necklace! You did a great job!

I am tired and heading to bed. Hope you all enjoy a nice weekend.

[Jean]

Good Morning! A lazy day at this house! We got up to sunshine but it has disappeared. We are supposed to get rain this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow. We need it. I have laundry going and need to check for lunch leftovers. Bob is making his Saturday morning rounds and will be home soon. Hope you all enjoy a nice day!

[Maggie]

♪♥♫ GOOD AFTERNOON IN MAY MAGNOLIAS ☺♫

It is another hot day here in the ♥-Land and the animals are snoozing outside in the shade. Will is down at the park where the Cub Scout jamboree is going on and entertaining those eager young Cub Scouts. That means that he will have to put on several demonstrations for there are quite a few different packs of the cubs. He is showing them how to stamp their initials and make their leather badges personal and letting them do the stamping. The badges are round and have long leather strips on which they get beads for things they have done to earn a bead to string on them. There are a lot of those little boys camping out there at the park.

This is the last day of May and June starts tomorrow (I typed "April" up at the top ~ I am still back there ). This year is passing quite quickly I do believe. Maybe that is a sign that I am getting old.

I am gathering up the items we will be using in the MH and we will bring it over here next week to load what we have into it. My office is getting cluttered with the boxes of items that will go out there. I still have a few things on order that will have a home in the MH.

JEAN Sounds like you had a wonderful visit and meal at that Pizza Ranch. Good idea to let the kids play games wile the older folks gabbed.

DONNA FAYE I think it is nice that they have that hand sanitizer in all sizes and those Wet Ones singles are so easy to have one along. I remember my nephew when he was just a little tyke asking if I had any of that ~ he was rubbing his hands together.

Always remember ~ Never, never, never give up

[gma22]

Good afternoon. Short post as we have big plumbing issues at the moment and the plumbers are here working at the moment. Hopefully they can fix it. Both the downstairs and upstairs toilets are clogged and the upstairs one when you flush it backs up into the tub, EUWWW! He said that doesn't make sense as the one downstairs should be the one one. I said it was totally clogged and the upstairs one flushes and doesn't overflow but it does come up a bit into the tub, not the whole tank full but some. It is a mess and having them here on Saturday is going to cost a bundle. Jack ended up going out into the garage and peeing and I have been taking a large trash bag, putting it over the toilet and going then dumping it. It is gross, but you have to go if you have to go. Say a prayer that their snake can get at the problem out front and clean it out and that it is the problem.

I will post to you all tomorrow. I am a wreck thinking about what ifs and not having the money for anything major at the moment. faye

[QuilterInVA]

Good morning, Ladies! It's been a little cooler the last few days, in the low 70s but it'll be in the 90s by Wednesday.

Today begins hurricane season and I have checked my tub for candles, matches, batteries, cat litter, first aid supplies, a small charcoal grill and cooking utensils, paper plates and cups. I have 2 cases of water in the pantry as well as food for a week that I can eat without cooking. So I am prepared. They are calling for a light season, but all it takes is one!

Faye, they have started aerial mosquito spraying here and the ground spray will be coming sometime this month. The paper had an article and they said the ground spraying only kills 15% but the aerial is near 95%. The necklace is very pretty. You did a great job. So sorry about your plumbing woes! I hope its an easy and cheap fix.

Jean, it sounds like you had a really lovely day with your crafty club.

Maggie, have you ever lived near a pig wallow? I grew up on a farm and pigs stink really, really bad. All those antibacterial sprays, wipes and hand sanitizers are contributing to the development of super bugs. They are not necessary. Good old soap and water still works just fine and is safer for us and the environment. How are the buffalo doing?

Have a wonderful day!

[Jean]

Good Afternoon! We had sunshine this morning but the dark clouds rolled in after lunch. It has lightened up so no rain so far. Both Amanda and Beth had to work today plus the weatherman predicted rain for the lake area, so opted to stay home this weekend. We went to church, mainly because my bell choir director was playing the organ and she makes it "rock" compared to the regular organist. We have one service during the summer and it always runs over an hour; I get antsy sometimes. Today was communion so will have the Friendship Fund money to count tomorrow. I've read the paper and done a couple loads of laundry, trying to second guess what we might pack for MN.

Maggie, Will working with the scouts reminded me of a story. Bob's farmer friend's grandson asked his grandpa to help with the fishing badge for scouts. He was supposed to get the pole ready, put the bait on, catch the fish, take the fish off, clean it, and eat it. He got all set up but grandpa caught the first fish and they had to quit before the scout caught his fish. Grandpa thought he would demonstrate the cleaning process whereby the scout announced he didn't think he would do the fishing badge but find something else. You will have fun arranging everything in the motor home.

"Gma," I sure hope your plumbing mess is fixed! I sure feel for you and Jack!

Susan, I will send positive vibes that there are no hurricanes near you! I just read about what to pack in an emergency kit for a cat, a couple things I hadn't thought of. With two big cats, there is no way they would both fit in one carrier. I'd say it is a toss up between pigs and turkeys as to the smell. When they pump the pits and spray the fields, it's really gross.

The dryer should be done so need to fold towels and get the next load going. Enjoy the rest of your day and evening!

[Maggie]

♪♥♫ GOOD AFTERNOON IN MAY MAGNOLIAS ☺♫

Nothing much unusual happening this nice rainey Sunday. We were planning on bringing the MH home to load some stuff in it tomorrow but we may get more rain so will wait. No hurry on that for we won’t be going anywhere in it for a few months yet.

Since June has started and my weigh day is tomorrow I am going to have a NEW start on my weight loss. I plan to give it a good go and try to stick with it for I still have a ways to go before I reach goal. I like a new month to make a fresh start and this will be it. I quit my walking program awhile back and have got to get back to it. Here are the 3 goals I have set for myself. ~
1. Get serious about losing weight ~ Write what I bite ~ everything
2. Do a walking & “heavy hands” program at least 3 days a week to start with 5 minutes and adding minutes to my sessions each day.
3. Make more meals to eat at home.

JEAN That is a cute scout fish story! Will had one of the little cubs look up at him and say, "I know you! You work at the museum." That little guy remembered him from a trip the tribe made awhile back. He also remembered what Will had told the group back then.

SUSAN I use the hand wipes or the bottle kind when there isn't any water around to wash up with soap. It is so handy to keep clean with. There are still just the two little girl buffalo this year so I don't think the other two females will get PG for it is getting late in the year for an more births.

DONNA FAYE Yikes! What a smelly mess you have in your house. Hopefully it won't cost you an arm and a leg to get it all fixed up to be usable once again.

Always remember ~ Never, never, never give up

[gma22]

Good morning girls! What a mess at our condo. We had the plumber come out and he tried to clean out the front sewer cut out, but he found that it is in more than one and needs a commercial clean out. The stupid one man management company we have now went to Puerto Rico and left no one in charge. We spent hours to find someone to help and finally got the number of the association president and called him. In the meantime we went to a hotel for the weekend and spent money we shouldn't have. We are back home waiting for the management company maintenance guy to show up so Jack can show him the problem and they can get this fixed. We can't go to the bathroom, shower, do dishes, run any water, nothing!!! I am a mess from the stress of it all. We also had to pay for a weekend service call from our plumber though they graciously didn't charge us for the work they tried to do just for coming out. We are sitting waiting for the guy right now and Jack had to take the day off, but he will have to go back to work tomorrow. We could use prayers about this. It is 10:30 now and he was supposed to be here at 8. I am literally sick sitting here worrying about this as we can't even go to the bathroom. I made do by putting a trash bag inside the toilet and then putting the seat down over it so I could go! My blood sugar and blood pressure is up because of this and we have no idea when they will fix this. We can't continue to stay in a hotel and Jack has to go back to work tomorrow regardless.

I will try and talk to you all later, but right now I am so stressed out I can't think straight.

[Maggie]

♪♥♫ GOOD AFTERNOON IN MAY MAGNOLIAS ☺♫

I am a happy camper this day for sure. Will bought the small sized Can Cooker today and it is so trick and it came with a nice storage bag. It is designed to cook great tasting food fast on any heat surface. We got the “Junior” model that is the compact size, cooks enough food for 1 to 6 people. It holds 2 gallons and has a two piece stainless steel rack that holds the food off the bottom. It is 7” tall & 10” in diameter, & weighs 3#. It is a quick, convenient healthy way to cook. I am so looking forward to using it here in the back yard before putting it in the MH. They also make a larger model that is the 4 gallon capacity one for a large crowd. If you want a look see about it you can go to www.cancooker.com.

This is my weigh day and I am amazedly down a pound. I am jazzed about that for sure. While we were out and about I had a Subway® sandwich which cost me a whopping 4 points+. It was turkey and I had them put lots of veggies on it. Yummy. So far this day I am back on track. In a bit when I finish here I am going to once again start a walking program. No day like today to get a fresh start on my program.

Nothing much going on here this day. The buffalo were all laying down chewing their cuds and the little ones were stretched out in the sun by their mom’s. There was a pick-up truck in the field next door where the male is kept and it was dragging the field. The rain softened it up enough that now when it rains again the new grass will grow up nicely with all that fertilizer which has been spread.

DONNA FAYE Girlfriend you are in a stinky mess. I certainly hope they can get your plumbing woes fixed and spread the cost around to your neighbors that are hooked up to the same system. Each condo should be independent but that isn't always the case. Any chance you could stay with your daughter while this is being sorted out?

Always remember ~ Never, never, never give up

[Jean]

Good Afternoon! The sun is shining and the wind has been blowing hard all day. Our regular church bank "balancer" gal was gone today and will be for the next three Mondays. Don't know what she was doing but the secretary couldn't get it to balance this morning. We counted, counted, and double checked the checks against the envelopes twice. I finally told her to make a blank copy of the final report and fill in the blanks from the different sorted piles of money. WA LA -- we balanced! We didn't have much to count so it was very frustrating! My part went smoothly once the computer cooperated getting me to where I needed to go. I picked up the gift shop money which wasn't much since it was closed for Memorial Day. By then it was time for lunch; next I headed to a P.E.O. meeting which was a couple hours. A portion of the street going in to town is blocked off for repaving so that will be a pain for awhile. It has to be done when school starts in August so hope the weather cooperates.

Maggie, I know you will have fun with the can cooker! Do you have the larger one? I did see an ad for one in a catalog that Bob got in the mail. on losing another pound gone forever!

"Gma," I can't imagine what you must be going though! I wish there was something I could do to help you.

Bob has a board meeting so I'm hoping he will get fed there. I had cookies and coffee at the meeting so I'm not hungry right now. Enjoy your evening!