Hey!

Active Folks Over 50 is a place to talk about fitness and healthy eating information as it relates to weight loss and/or maintenance--and also about any work, fun, hobby, or volunteer activites you're engaged in. In other words, the active part of your life!

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- Raves about grandkids or ranting about your kids is out of bounds.

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It's another gray and breezy day here--as Hurricane Gustave blows its way through the gulf. I hope everyone who needs to get out along the Louisiana/Mississippi coast does so...

To think that tomorrow is September. How did that happen? I still think there's some summer left. (Well, technically there is!)

What's up with all of you? Today's my day off from the gym, sad to say. I might get a walk in, if I can get out there before we get rain again.

Any football fans here? (Spinymouse, somehow I bet you're not one...? )

Jay

Hmm... looks like I'm talkin' to myself in here... Must be the holiday.

Jay

Good Morning JAY . . . I'm sure some of the others will be showing up soon.

My day was really strange yesterday -- weather was looking not too terrible so I decided to do some shopping. Oh my . . . we got hit by a very sudden and very nasty storm . . . obviously not at hurricane level, but bad enough that you couldn't see to drive. I was in Walmart at the time it arrived and they took a generator hit and were trying to shoo us all out while their emergency power supply lasted. Storm raged around all night, but this morning it has turned quite sunny.

Hope the weather is being good to you and the rest of the gang. . .

You are right, Jay. I am the opposite of a football fan.
I guess I take after my Dad with that. I remember him briefly looking at a game on TV and then getting this amused little half-smile on his face and saying, "Points. POINTS!! What are they going to do with their POINTS?" and then shaking his head and changing the channel.

It is one of those words too that sounds sillier the more you say it. Points points points.....

Today I must do the least favorite thing of all to do -- domestic drudgery. The cottage I rent has become so bad that even I can't stand it anymore. And my long-lost college friend is coming over in less than two weeks, and so I have to begin to clean now. I have always been a natural slob. Oh, and that reminds me I have to clean out the car too. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so do I. It is almost enough to make me disbelieve astrology since I am a double Virgo and am the antithesis of meticulous and neat. My whole living space is an obstacle course of filth. Hmmm. Sounds like a band name. Obstacle Course of Filth. At least an album title.

Hey Spinymouse, meowee!

What they do with their points is make large deposits at the bank...

Good luck on your cleaning, Jo! Yeah, somehow I can imagine that if anyone could be a double virgo and have a contrary rep, it would be you, girl!

Me, I like clean--but at the same time, I'm also messy. My desk is a disaster area, and my clothes pile up on the dresser... but my floors are spotless.

Jay

JAY - How do you get your floors to be spotless? Mine are conspiring against me.
Determined to turn over a new leaf, I borrowed a friend's steam cleaner which she raved on about, how it was so much better than the kind you can rent at the hardware store, and so with much back discomfort I moved furniture around and used this device only to have it DEPOSIT dirt and dog hair onto the floor (yes, i read the directions first, and listened to my friend's description of what to do) Where's that mad foot-stamping icon, oh well, insert here. I'm too tired to look for it.
I don't like carpeting much anyway but I rent, so I have no say, and have been in this cottage for about 8 years now, and I am sure the landlord will not re-carpet until I am gone and if that is in 20 more years.... wow, that's a lot of years of nasty carpet and stupid gizmos to try on it.

Good Morning . . .

Guess I'm more like Jay . . . terribly messy with stuff piled in every corner, but my floors are pretty clean, even the carpeted ones. Best trick I've found is to attack the cat yak-up marks as soon as they happen with soda water. This morning I was 'gifted' with three spots.

Nothing too new around here -- the long weekend is over so naturally the sun is shining at the moment.

Hey!

Well, ya gotta stay on top of it. I make every effort not to let it go too long between cleanings. I'm motivated because I'm mildly allergic to cats, and I have a cat. And I do just like it better.

One thing that helps is that we don't wear shoes indoors--or we only wear indoor shoes (that haven't ever gone outside).

We have some tile floors as well as wood floors, and I love Swiffer for that. (OK, so it's not that environmentally friendly--but I paid my dues for many years and I've had enough of cleaning being harder than it needs to be.)

As for the carpets--the company I'd recommend is Chem-Dry. They have franchises in many places. The "chem" in the name refers to carbonation (i.e., club soda, basically... ha ha!), not to any terrible chemicals. And it's not very expensive to have them come once every couple of years.

meowee, Chem-Dry sells a spot cleaner that is like club soda on steroids. Takes care of all our cat spots.

And for vacuuming, well, in another thread I gave my opinion of certain vacuum cleaners. Let's just say that I like bags, and I have a Kenmore Progressive canister vac that I just love.

And that's what I know about floors today!

Sorry about the steam cleaning machine...

I'll look into Chem-Dry. Do they move the furniture around too? Or what do you do with it?

If you want, they will help you move furniture. It may cost more, dunno.

It depends on how far you want to go or how bad it is. Sometimes just having the main pathways cleaned is all you need. We had all the carpets done here before we moved in (so there was no furniture). If we were having it done now there are some things we wouldn't move, like the sofa bed, the bed in the bedroom, probably the desk, etc.

It dries in something like an hour--it never is really wet the way steam cleaning sometimes is. That's what we like.

Jay

Hi . . .

Just to let you know, I've been having really weird computer problems the past few days and will be making an appointment to get this "little beastie" a checkup probably on Friday. At the moment, 3FC is one of the few places I'm able to access, but I don't know how much longer that may last.

Hope you don't mind JAY, , but I mentioned to the members in Golden Girls and Getting Lighter that they could give a yell for you if I go completely missing and they need some Mod intervention

Bought myself a new toy yesterday, a laptop, along with a cute little stand for it (which took me over 3 hours to put together ) and a thingamajig to allow me to set up my own little wireless network so I can eventually use either computer on the net -- BUT -- this silly desktop (which is currently hardwired into the cable connection) will not let me load the software to set up the wireless.

Today I will tackle the laptop set up and the first thing I'll be loading (if Vista cooperates) will be my Mahjong game which I haven't been able to access since Sunday -- I'm having major withdrawal pains. Thank goodness I've never found (actually never tried to find) a real-life game to become involved with. It does become addictive. Luckily, I'm a definite non-gambler at heart.

Anyway, better get to a few more 3FC places while I can . . . hopefully "I will be back" . . .

Good Morning ladies, Got to get outside soon and get my walk in. If I wait untill later it will not happen. Days are still too hot and evening have a way of getting away from you and nothing happening.

I have to admit I am something of a neat freak. I get really nervous in a mess. I can't relax. I must have some some kind of condition there! Instead of swimter duster I use one taht has a removeable cloth that you can wash and reuse many times, and I can use my cleaning product of choice, vinegar. I know, sounds like the house would smell like a salad, but the vinegar smell evaporates quickly and it just smells clean. And no chemicals.

Eveyone, make it a good day, Freda