Hi Bobbi.

Here on the Texas coast my latest electric bill was about 25 dollars. But I live in a small apartment and I am at work (teaching school) about 12 hours a day, and in the winter I never have to turn on the heater. I also can't remember the last time I turned on the stove or oven. I do turn the tv on when I get home and it sometimes stays on all night if I fall asleep.

In the summer it'a different story. When I'm running the a/c my bill can be up to a hundred dollars.

Annie

Ok, with CK's help to resize the pictures ~ going to try this again ~ Maddie's drawings and the Easter outfit brought to life :)

That is great!!! You have such a talent for seeing these things. good job!!

Thank you CK for your help. It was fun to make the outfit ~ I like to play ~ arts and crafts.

And Maryea ~ you are a good grandma. I make stuff because it is fun for me. I don't bake much ~ when I do, it is usually the same kind of cookies you mentioned. We just don't bake stuff much anymore, so don't keep all that stuff around and if the kids want cookies or brownies or what ever ~ we use mixes. I think it doesn't matter whether it is from scratch or not ~ it is doing something with them. And reading or playing games with them is wonderful ~ again ~ it is your time you are giving to them. They will remember that you did that.

The other grandma spends a lot of money, but not as much time. She says we spoil the kids ~ I don't see how giving them your time is spoiling them.

Hi Had a nice day celebrating steve birthday. friends and family came by and helped eat cake :D :wave: rosey

breakfast
coffee

lunch
chix stew
grapes
iced tea

snack
coffee
small slice of b-day cake

dinner
steak
salad (tomatoes,cukes,black olives)

snack
coffee mocha

Howdy all....gee I had a week where all of my support system bugged out! My nail tech went to Minnasota to care for post pard depressed DD and my gay cleaning gals left for Cape Cod forever. I need help as pushing a vaccum kills me. I called 3 ads and DH talked to Penny yesterday after I left. She came this morning on time and I liked her. I delayed hiring because Kala was due for an estimate about an hour later. Well 3hours later and she never showed up. I called Penny and she'll start next week. Called a nail salan and have appt next week with new tech....Life is back on track. I have terrible nails, thin and brittle and had artifical nails for 15 years. They even grow so slow I only need them done every 3 weeks.

Bobbi...somethings you just have pay for. Like a/c down here. Without it everything gets moldy. The little you save on not running your purifier will be spent on headache meds. You are worth the few pennies you have saved!You are coming into prime time for house hunters. Good Luck!

Donna... how is the sick kitty?

Gayle...I had to really look close to find any difference between the drawing and the outfit. Maddy is a lucky kid with a granny like you! :hug:

Rosey...Happy Birthday to Steve. Did you bring him flowers? :devil:

Karen..When is the Hot Rod tour? Do the girls have rocker shirts to wear?

Found a bag of fresh jumbo shrimp in the freezer and need to get peeling them....Local shrimp, so don't go thinking I blew the budget. Now gotta figure what do with them. Think scampi....yup and spend the evening laying under the tub faucet quenching my garlic thirst. Leftovers in an omelet in am....sounds like a plan.

Mary...I'm reading a new series. The Blue Bell Chronicles by Laura Vosika. A trilogy but 3rd book is not out yet. Look it up bettcha you'll like it. k3

Hi everyone. another quiet day working on my cards while steve is cleaning out his junk drawers lol he must really be bored. and K3 no flowers but gave him a movie (zero dark Thirty) and a dog tag necklace with the serenity prayer on it, and cooked him a steak dinner. our dd brought him the cutest cake. Ive been realyzing that in a month i have to go back to see my bariatric surg,the reson being i want my stomach surgury and wont have ins after jan 2014, so needed to get going on the pre surg procedure,6 months of once a month rash and skin problems checks to prove to the ins company that i need this. anyways i found out i can do all of this with my reg dr here without going to anchorage :carrot: however i want to get under 200# befor the surg so today im back to eating very little carbs,mostly protein and protein shakes. my belly is allready rumbling :?: however the end result will be worth it. even tho my diet has been low cal,i got used to eating carbs again and thats why my weight stays the same, no gain tho. nothing else going on, tomorrow is poof day and with our tax return we are planning on paying off 2 big bills,its a good feeling. im getting used to the new budget and only one poof day a month. hope your evenings great :wave: rosey

breakfast
coffee
greek yogurt

lunch
left over steak
grape tomatoes and cuke

snack
coffee mocha with 1 scoop protein powder

dinner
stuffed pepper made with gr turkey
iced tea

Hello everyone, I'm finally getting here. It was a busy day. Started out at the gym, then to my doctor. Then he sent me to the radiologist for another ultra-sound to check my thyroid as a nodule showed up on the ultra-sound that was done on my carotids. The tech did not tell me that...but I understnd that they aren't suppose to. I should get the results soon. I think it is mostly to confirm and maybe determine what kind...hard, a cyst etc :?: and my doctor will refer me to a specialist and he'll probably perform a biopsy. Most of these nodules are benign but of course it has to be checked.

At PT yesterday, she injected medication (an anti-inflammatory but I didn't even ask what it was)...but it was done somehow by electric current...similiar to those they do for pain relief on other parts of the body, esp the back. They used to call them Tens Units but call them something else now. I had to leave the thingy on for 3 hours then apply ice for ten minutes. She said it was pain relief but also diagnostic depending on whether it helps or not. Well, last night and most of today it hurt MORE not less but tonight it does feel a little better. Of course I have also taken ibuprofen a couple times but that alone doesn't usually help much. So maybe whatever she gave me just takes a while to help.:?: It was totally new to me...she said it is not as strong as what the doctor would inject but didn't say it wasn't a cortisone type drug so maybe it was a lower dose of something like that just delivered in this way, I don't know. Maybe some of you current nurses know about this. Anyway she checked out my shoulder/arm condition and says she thinks it is a couple things going on...she thinks I do have a shoulder injury but also some of it may be coming from my back/neck problem. So I will have PT a couple times a week and continue my exercises at home. I am glad I have kept up with them although I can't do them well due to my sore arm and I don't always get all of them done.

Rosey - I know you can do it...you have come so far and know what you need to do. Tonight we ordered pizza. I ordered a med thin crust (called Brooklyn crust as it's not the really crunchy kind and was a compromise with dh. Dh wanted one of those pre-bagged Asian salads but accidentally picked up a different kind...we didn't like it plus was higher cal/carbs. Also we didn't like the pizza....It was too salty and sorta wierd tasting. I think it is just that our tastes have changed. Then he pulls out these pineapple upside-down cakes he loves from New Season Market...they make them in their bakery and we share one big piece. But it didn't taste as good as usual either and we agreed not to buy them anymore. I was looking things up online about my health issues, and I thought to myself...you know, I REALLY want to eat clean...I'm tired of hurting my body. I am lucky to have been so healthy for so long but I am tempting God. So, I hope I stay in this frame of mind. And when I saw your post, Rosey, I thought yes, we can both do it! :) My dd says I eat too many carbs (well duh I know that!) and she reminds me to be sure and eat a lean protein, lots of fiber and a little healthy fat every time I eat. I know this stuff but don't always do it. She says eating this way, she has lost lots of body fat (I didn't think she even had any!) and doesn't have to work out as long. She looks really good and is another one who inspires me even though I know it is too late to look like her.

Karen3 - Glad you found some new people to "support" you. It seems I require much more support these days. Thanks for the book recommendation. I found The Blue Bells of Scotland book 1. Hope it's the right one because I ordered it.:dizzy: Afterwards I saw The Blue Bell Chronicles by Laura Vosika and it sounds like the same book.:?: Sounds interesting. Right now I'm reading Getty's Moon...not sure what you'd call it ..kinda fantasy murder thriller and an amnesiac who remembers stuff he'd probably rather have not. Creepy but interesting and I got it free for my Kindle, so I read it at the gym and while watching TV. At other times here at home I read Son of Hamas and it is very interesting!

Gayle - I agree time is better than money with children. The outfit is darling...I hope Maddie loved it.

Bobbi - Hope this person loves your house too and is really ready to follow through. I think the size of house you have and the amount of insulation can greatly affect your heating costs. Most of our house is well insulated but the family room not so much. We have added double-pane glass in our sliding door in there plus in the windows through out the house and that has really made our house more comfortable. Not sure yet about the cost yet as it is just now the time of year they reassess our useage and we haven't had all that for an entire year. Most people have at least double pane already but we didn't.

My arm is beginning to ache more so think I need to stop typing and go to bed early tonight.

Hi everyone where is you all? :dizzy: I had agreat day,went shopping and bill paying. my dd had fun trying on hats and she convinced to buy this. had my 1st Dr apt ment for tummy tuck. and was referred to a surg in anch. im excited to be on my way for this. hope your day was awesome too. rosey :wave:

breakfast
coffee

lunch
nothing :dizzy:

snack
coffee carmel mocha

dinner
orange chix and potatoe salad

Good evening GG's,

Got out of work late, so not much time ~ a quick internet fix before bed. Three days down and one more to go ~ then off Friday.

Donna ~ don't know when or if they will ever get more help at work, or change the hours/schedule to something better. Will just have to live with it like it is for now. It isn't horrible ~ it is dooable, but could be better. Mama always used to say ~ anything worth having is worth waiting for......

By the way ~ how is your work going ~ training up the new person? Hope you are surviving it ok.

Love the hat Rosey ~ and your beautiful smile.

Trying on hats reminds me of the fun I had with my girlfriend when we were in college. We would go to the stores and she would try on hats and kind of take on a persona and accent that might go along with that type of hat ~ it was a hoot.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Take care and have a good rest.

Hi Chicks, I've been out of town taking care of my sick/flu grandbabes while mommy & daddy worked. Scooting out the door soon to buy food food for Easter dinner. I'll come back to do personals when I'm settled :smug: but I wanted to wish each of you a 'Blessed Easter' :hug:

:easter::easter2::egg::bunny:

Good Morning...to busy to yak today. We have a guy coming over to access our cat house in town, he'll be there about 3 hours. That'll give me time to make measurments, etc. We looked at kitchen cabinets in the morning, went home to a dead frigerator.

Two days ago our old refrigerator started making noises, DH said it's trying to die. It did. We couldn't find any good deals locally so we went to Lowe's which is about 30 miles to the north of us, it paid off. In my new house I wanted all white cabinets in the kitchen with black appliances. I've seen that look so many times online and it's clean and sharp looking.

They had a nice black frig on sale plus a new ceramic top black stove on clearance with 5 burners just like my current stove. We weren't going to buy the stove yet but the price was just too good to pass up.

I put an ad in our local paper yesterday for my stainless steel stove. Hope I can get $400 out of it, they run $1300 new and mine is only 3 years old.

K3...I do plan on running my air purifier again, I just wanted to see if that's what burns so much electricity. Our old frig might have sucked lots of juice, our dehumidifier too. This is only an experiment.

Quote:

The little you save on not running your purifier will be spent on headache meds. You are worth the few pennies you have saved!You are coming into prime time for house hunters. Good Luck

Rosey...love the hat. Carbs are going to be a battle for you but with the upcoming surgery, its a fantastic incentive to cut back. Good luck to your rumbling tummy.

Mary...our current house is well insulated and we had all new double pane windows put in about 10 years ago. I think just being aware of turning off things at night will help cut down our bill. I so often turn the lights on when entering a room during the day just to see better. duh!
Hey Donna...see how accommodating I am with my separated sentences and paragraphs? :rofl: P.S. That dang gal who wants our house is MUM. But she did just have knee surgery. I'm thinking she's backing off.