Downtown Abbey!
 

A few months ago I bit the bullet and bought into Amazon Prime. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a member. I get 2 day shipping FREE (on anything Amazon sells) and free instant videos (like Netflix). I just saw that Downtown Abbey, seasons 1 & 2 are on there to watch for free (if you're a member). Now I know what will occupy my evenings for a few weeks! : )

Hi Gals. It's just starting to snow as I type. We have blizzard warnings for much of the Island with horrific winds. Fortunately, it won't affect where I'm living. DS#1 will be in the thick of it by tonight. All schools, universities and colleges closed this afternoon in anticipation so it's supposed to be a dilly. And then tomorrow more of the same. I'll not complain of the few centimetres we're supposed to receive.

It's warm and cozy in the house and I just finished a cup of hot lemon/ginger/honey tea. Everything is rosy. LOL.

Karen3, all the best on the surgery. I'm sure you'll get back to us as soon as you can.

Take care.

Hi everyone. i have had such a nice time puttering around by my lonesome. i love me time lol. the disscusion about obama care is interesting. it really struck us and not in a good way. our med insurance has been cancelled as of january 2014. this means that the ins that was apart of my dh retirement is no longer. which means that when jan comes i wont have any ins till i can apply for medicare in may when i turn 65.:mad: i know i can find some type of ins but being on ss disability for income i cant afford it right now. it really gripes me,esp the persrciption part. not sure what i'll do,am going to discuss with my md and see if im healthy enuff to come off the rest of my meds. we shall see. K3 hope your procedure is over and you are resting comfortably. I spent the morning organizing my quilting stash :) yesterday i had a great time with my dd. it was the 1st time in 6yrs that i was able to got to joann fabric store here. they didnt have a ridy cart but managed to toodle around with my walker. it was so much fun and i spent too much. then my dd and i went to my fav resturant had'nt been there in the same time frame we had chix ceaser baked wraps and salad. totally yummy even if i couldnt eat but a small amount. it felt great to do normal things an nsv moment for sure. for the new chickies im handicapped from a spine injury,spent 6 months in hosp after surg,got mersa, went to rehab to learn to walk again and then had bariatric surg so i could function better. i have learned alot and can do most things just in a diff way. my legs are still paralyzed but i dont let it stop me. life is precious to me. my dh will be home later today from the cabin,i hope he had a great time and is planning some future trips(((oops did i say that,sounds awful but i do like my me time :dizzy:) hope youe day is bombdiggitty :wave: rosey

Hi Donna,
I just now finished the first season of Downton Abbey. You are going to love it!!!
I'm laughing at all of us calling this show "Downtown Abbey"....HA....I think I started doing that when a friend told me about the show over the phone and I thought she said "Downtown", so that's what I have been calling it. It was not until today when I took out one of the disk that I really looked at the cover of the DVD and noticed it said "Downton Abbey", and I burst out laughing, because everyone is calling it Downtown Abbey! Anyway enjoy it, I went through season one in two days....it's hard to just watch one episode at a time.
Rhonda

Glad you had such a great time Rosey, good for you!

Rhonda, I laughed at myself the first time I went to iTunes to get Downton Abbey, and couldn't find it because I typed in Downtown. Just 1 little letter off--they are so picky.

I am missing the snow; it is way too warm here for that. Unfortunately, this area is having school closings for the flu. I keep hoping that it will stay a little colder to kill some of these bugs, otherwise I think we will have tornados in February again. Not a good thing. I am tired of the rain, though.

Being kinda lazy today, kinda tired out, and not a lot to say. Guess I was having some 'me time' again.

Later, ladies!

Kathy

I'm BaaAAAaack!
 

Hi Ladies and good evening. Had a long day in town today, whew. I ended up with a late lunch, no snack and almost started munching but managed to get a healthy dinner together in time. I made tuna patties, peas, raw carrots and mashed potatoes. Isabell, I had to stop and get a cup of hot tea, yum.

akrosey-went to the fabric store today and got some batting and the softest swirl fur material, am making a quilt to put at the foot of my bed under the sheets. My feet & legs get cold and I wore my last foot quilt out. I'll try to sew it up this weekend, fun.

Karen 3-82 sounds wonderful, I hope to get back to Florida for a visit & or artist workshop after ds graduates (next June).

LRH-sounds like you are losing nicely, +++

Hugs to all :hug: Diana

Hi carbie thankyou for the info. im on reg ss, my dh is on disability. i was told i cant get medicare till im 65. i could have filed dissability but got more going on my dh pay than i would have on my own and i couldnt do the dissability on his income only on mine. the diff between the 2 was about 800$. i know stupid rules huh but i went for the bigger amount. i will see about the meds thing tho. since i lost so much wgt the dr has taken me off 4 of my meds. hopefully when i see her the end of the month i can eliminate more. i appreciate the info tho :hug: rosey

Excited
 

Wow...

We went on a cruise in October, actually we were on vacation for 2 weeks, and the cruise was part of the vacation. I didn't do too badly with my food choices on the cruise, actually. Got home and immediately got struck by a tummy bug, so when I finally weighed in, it was shocking to see that I actually weighed LESS than before I left for vacation! That has never happened!!

But I just never got motivated again. And pretty much stayed at the same weight for a few months. Then gained some over Christmas.

But now my body is responding to healthy eating as if I just began a diet! How well I remember the struggle, because the last 10 - 15 pounds loss (I was really trying hard before vacation) seemed to come off in slow motion.

So I'm enjoying the quick shedding of pounds this week. 5 pounds since Monday! It's a honeymoon for sure, but so very nice!!!

9 more pounds until I hit that 100 pound weight loss. And 28 until ONEDERLAND. : )

Picture of the "New Me"
 

[IMG]http://s19.postimage.org/odbiexsfz/D...de_smaller.jpg[/IMG]

If you click on the picture, it will enlarge.

Way to go TN Donna ~ you've got some cool milestones coming up :carrot:

Bobbi - I bought some Fiber One cereal and made some of those Fiber One Haystacks. Which Fiber One do you buy? There are so many flavors I never know which one to buy. I don't eat much cereal as cereal anymore because I tend to get a lot of congestion from milk, but I could use it for other things. Since I am not a sweet eater, I don't see myself using it for pie crust or topping. The Fiber One haystacks had chocolate, and that is my only exception to not being a sweet eater. If it's not chocolate, it's not worth it, IMO. LOL But I could use it in cooking, such as with the breadcrumbs I mix in my meatloaf etc. I wonder if it could be crushed and used as a thickening agent? I might get DH eating fiber without him even knowing it. LOL I will look at the website for recipes.

I buy Wheat Thins Fiber Select crackers. I would rather have things like that instead of sweets. For a snack, I grab a handful of the crackers, where other people will choose cookies etc. Cookies go stale in my house unless they are something DH likes. Also, I eat soooo many veggies, and beans. I love beans. But I have to limit this stuff to lunch because DH won't eat too many veggies and hates beans. When I make Chili I have to use only half a can of beans, and even then DH picks them out.

Rosey - I retired at 64 in June 2010, and didn't turn 65 until January 2011, so I had to buy my own insurance for those months in between. I was having so many medical problems and just couldn't get going to go to work anymore. I was able to handle the cost of the insurance knowing it was just for a few months, but I had no coverage for Rx. I wasn't too worried about it because all the meds I was on were generic and I could get them for $10, 90 day supply. Don't you know I had to go for a stent and had to go on Plavix! It was so expensive. That really screwed me, but I had no choice....I had to have it. I went online and got a discount card but it was still high.

Freda - My husband is "old school." He hates to go to the doctor and still believes in going to the ER instead of the doctor. I have such a hard time explaining to him how wrong that is. But back when we were younger, people didn't go for check ups like they do now. My PCP has explained to me about preventive medicine, but they want you to go for so many "routine" tests, for things that may never happen. Is that what you mean about the doctors having to be more accountable for the tests they run? On one hand I can see where the doctors want the test run because that is the best way to diagnose the problem and they figure the patient has insurance that will pay for the test. But maybe there is a less expensive way to resolve the issue. Some of these tests involve radiation etc that should be avoided if possible.

One time my cardiologist put me in the hospital and they kept me for 5 days running tests, all which could have been done as outpatient. At the end of 5 days, they decided that nothing was wrong except my beta blocker had to be increased. Not only did my insurance pay for those 5 days, but I missed 5 days of work over this. I understand how you are looking at it from the prospective of a medical worker, and I am glad we have people such as you who want to do this work, but there are things I have experienced from the prosepctive of the patient that is unnecessary IMO. I am trying not to say that they had an empty bed and they found someone (me) who had good insurance to fill that bed. For the first 50 years of my life I was in such good health and was never sick. After that, all **** broke loose and I have had so many medical problems. I have learned so much from this, and seen things that are scary, and things that make you go "hmmmm." I have learned not to be one of those people who blindly follow the doctor's orders. I ask so many questions and at times have refused the treatment he suggests, and in some cases the ailment has mysteriously gone away by itself. I know I really make my PCP angry, but I feel that the final say so in my medical care should be mine.

Now on the other hand, I will admit to you that if I had gone to the doctor when I first started getting belly pains I probably would not have had to go through the horrible year I had with the colostomy. It was a belly ache for goodness sake!!! LOL

Forgive me for getting on my soapbox about this.

Carbie - I used to process the orders for the Merck Rx program for patients who couldn't afford their meds. That's a good program to have, but the patients seem to have to jump through hoops to get their meds. If they ordered a med, they could not get refills. They had to get a new form and fill it all out again, take it to their doctor to sign. I guess they wanted to be sure the patient still had the financial hardship. The doctors used to get so mad because the patient couldn't just order a refill.

Bobbi - I don't mean to be a pest, buy how do you make your homemade yogurt? I wonder if I should do that? I like yogurt and I could put my Fiber One in that, and I think the homemade might be healthier and maybe cheaper. They also have a yogurt on the market that has fiber in it. I might take a look at that, too. I do use FitDay but haven't done it for several months. Sometimes I will key a food in just to see the nutritional info.