I'm feeling so great!! DH and I went to visit our Granddaughter and she is smiling, happy and doing the best I've seen her in years. Still sore from surgery, but rid of the organ that was causing her to feel as if she was in labor 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Great improvement in just a few days. They are removing many of the medicines she was on. Gradually she will be down to very few. The meds themselves caused damage to her intestines that may or may not improve now. We'll see.

We had such a good visit!!! Sure love that gal.

Karrine May your tenant be found free of cancer. May we all be so blessed to be free of the horrible C.

Mary Horray for new garage doors.

We had fish and chips for supper after the visit. Wish it tasted as good as I remembered. Have not had it in ages. Not likely to have again either. All places to eat are so far away that we like to take advantage of being out near choices to eat and keep from cooking. Will choose better next time.

Good morning everyone,
I went out for my "treat" day yesterday and my friend an I invited a lady (86 yrs. old) to join us which she did. I did have the fish and chips which were very good. Back to the diet again though today. Today is laundry day so that will keep me busy this morning. Nothing else to tell today.

Have a good weekend
Karrine

Went to our gs' martial arts class this morning. He's getting better, but I saw him yawning so think he was a bit sleepy. He's so proud of his belt he got recently. Our son leaves for China Monday so glad we got to be there to say goodbye too. He often drops by on Sun but since he'll be getting ready to go he may not have time.

We stopped at Target and I bought a new blender. I haven't tried it yet but I really like the looks of it..higher quality than any I've had and fits easily under my cupboards. It is an Oster 1200 Pro Blender Plus Smoothie Cup. I don't need the smoothie cup really but it came with it. Can't wait to try it but I stopped at a new coffee shop for a free drink so am too full right now. :)

Stopped at Walmart for milk and at the PO to return a package, so busy morning but now home for rest of day.

The door guy (front door) came yesterday but he discovered while the door is in balance, our house is not, so he could not do anything. He was going to put a strip in that we could paint temporarily but realized it would not look good. So now it is still unfinished (outside sides and top), until we get siding. He says once they pull off the old siding, then he will come back and finish it. We are saving for the siding, and it will take a while. Ironically, I always thought we should get the siding first, but both my dh and one of the men from Lowes or Home Depot that came out to give us an estimate said, no the door should be installed first. It's frustrating but we've learned a lot and hopefully it will be done right before long. From a distance the door already looks nice, it's just up close it doesn't look finished. While the man was here, I expressed our disappointment in the lack of professionalism he and the company have shown to us in regard to this purchase. I told him I wasn't sure whether it was him or just the company's fault but he did tell us HE would call when the parts came in and make an appt. He said the parts came in last week....I told him no, that is not true because the company told us they were in when dh called, but he (dh) has been the one to call all the time, no one ever calls us. Dh was even the one who had to call to set up this appt. I feel they should know how we feel and that this is not right. This man also works for another company installing siding and we were even considering him for that when we have the money...dh even asked him for a bid...but now I'm not so sure. From our experience a lot of companies do not operate with a lot of professionalism, but I prefer to have someone we can depend on if we can find one.

I'm reading a new book called The Evening Spider, sort of a pyschological suspense and crime story. The characters aren't especially appealing to me but I'm hoping I will enjoy it more as it goes along. Still reading the other two books I have mentioned as well. Really enjoying the book called God Knows my Size. I usually read one book on my Ipad, one in the bathroom/tub, one in my bedroom (devotional/inspirational) at the same time.

Karrine - Glad you enjoyed your fish and chips. GFY that you are able to just keep it to one treat a week. My problem is if I let go at all I am liable to overdo. My dd (who is not overweight), does what you do...she has one meal a week where she eats sensibly but outside her usual eating plan, and then gets right back on-plan/usual way of eating. I wish I could do that. Maybe one day:dizzy:

Sandy - So happy for your dd to be free of that diseased organ! And for you too as it's a worry to us too when our kids are hurting/sick. Sounds like you have really good relationships with your dds. That's wonderful. One of my kids (the one I seldom see or hear from) is in Costa Rica studying natural medicines. I am not sure whether she sleeps in a tent or a hut/cottage but she said there are howling monkeys above her. She's and adventurous gal and I love her, but we don't talk often. I'm in frequent contact with the other three.

Hi Carol, Bobbi -everyone have a good weekend!

Good afternoon GG's,

It has been a very tiring few days. Maddie was sick and missed school all week and was with us ~ sometimes all night long too. Her brother was sick and missed all week too. Sara was afraid to take Maddie home, for fear she'd get what Corbin had. She behaved fine. Usually she goes home when mom gets home from work and then we can relax a little. But she was with us 24/7 sometimes and while we are glad to help Sara out, it is tiring. Feeling kind of wiped out now.

It has been a nice sun shiny day today.

Mary ~ sorry for the hard time you all have had with that door. Glad you got to go watch your grandson's class.

Karrine ~ your treat meal sounds yummy. Glad you enjoyed that. Prayers sent up for your tenant lady.

Sandy ~ glad your granddaughter is feeling better after her surgery.

Carol Sue ~ I guess I will just kind of use my pedometer (even though it is not as accurate as I had hoped it would be) as kind of a guide as to how active I have been each day. I guess it would depend on how peppy I feel as to rather I would take any action (do something to add steps) if it showed that I had been less active that day.

Maybe it is a good thing I am kind of tired out ~ you all won't be subjected to some long saga from me.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Glynne - I'm sorry I just realized I forgot to say hi to you in my post! Didn't mean to slight you, was thinking I'd responded to you already I guess. It is very tiring having gc too long! Hope you can enjoy some alone/adult time this weekend.

Good morning everyone,
Today is reporting day for me and my weight stayed the same last week. I guess I overdid it a bit. Thank you everyone for your prayers for my tenant. I imagine she will get dates for her tests this week. My ankle is hurting too much to go to church today so I'll be in my recliner chair reading for a long time.

Mary Hope you enjoy your new blender. Sorry you are still having problems with your doorway and I don't blame you for telling the man about your disappointment. My "treat day" is just once a month and not weekly or I would never lose any weight. I just have so many points a week so I can't go over my point allotment if I want to lose anything especially now since I'm not exercising. I used to dine out a lot and do miss it as I don't especially like cooking so the once a month is really something to look forward to. I can have a little fast food as long as I know the points which is easy to look up on the internet.

Gayle That is wonderful that you help Sara out with the children. I think I would be very tired out too to have little ones around for 24/7. Hope you aren't as tired today.

Hello to everyone else and have a good Sunday,
Karrine

Hi everyone. It looks like it's going to be a nice day today.

Gayle, We watch our grandson overnight occasionally, but not very often. He is good, but likes to stay up late, and DH lets him. I am accustomed to going to bed early. His other grandparents are in their mid 70s. They often keep him for days at a time. I don't know how they do it, but they have done it with other grandchildren for years. They even take him camping once in a while. I think since I never raised a child that young I just don't know what to do. I don't have the patience.

Mary, I looked at your blender online and it looks nice. Hope it works out well for you. I, too, am sorry to hear you have had so much trouble with your door. I hope you can get your siding soon. Your house will look so nice with new siding, a new door, and a new garage door!

Sandy, how is your granddaughter doing? I hope she's feeling better day by day.

Karrine, I was trying to remember how your sore ankle started. Did you do something to hurt it, or did it just start hurting? One time I took an antibiotic and tendonitis was one of the side effects. I think that was the root of all the trouble I've had, but my doctor says no. They will never admit that something was caused by a medicine, but it said right in the prescription insert that it can cause tendonitis.

CarolSue and others Our Granddaughter is feeling better day by day. It will take another week to rid her body of some of the medication that were necessary before. She is sleeping better at night, thank goodness.

Pat went for a hike with a friend after Church today. She does love the ability to be active outside now that she is out of snow country in Oregon. Her latest painting, 24 in. by 36 in. is of horses going to greener pasture. It is breath taking!!!
She loves working with oil paints, but it takes forever to dry This painting as been sent by email to be entered into juried exhibit. Hope she gets accepted. By then the painting will be completely dry.

DH and I watched Michigan State basketball as Coach Izzo's team defeated Penn State by a huge margin. Sorry Carol Sue. We've been for this college for ages even tho no one in our family attended it.

Mary Remodeling is such a pain. Sorry the door doesn't really look as good as you wanted. Understand having to take things slowly now that we are retired.

Yesterday DH climbed the ladder to remove the two electrical fixture over the stone fireplace. He has done electrical work for ages, thank goodness. Hate to think what it would have cost to hire it done. He can still climb the ladder at 82 and I'm used to being his assistant in his many projects. How much better the fireplace looks now. I'll try to take picture and put on here tomorrow.

Karrine Did you find a good book? I finished one last night by author I liked years ago. I was disappointed that she has aged in a way that left a sour taste in my mouth. Won't read her again.

Sandy

Good morning,
We are under a winter storm watch for Tuesday and Wednesday. I hope it isn't too bad. I guess I'll go to the drugstore today before the bad weather gets here. I'm just having left overs for dinner tonight.

Carol Back at the beginning of January I hurt my ankle by overdoing it shoveling snow. I have a friend whose son hurt his ankle and it took 4 months for it to heal. I guess because you can't get away from using it, it takes longer to heal.

Sandy Pat's oil painting sounds awesome and I hope she wins the exhibit. I love anything to do with horses and when my daughter was young I used to send her to horse camp every summer where she had her very own horse for 2 weeks. Right now I am reading David Baldacci's King and Maxwell Series. I like mystery/suspense books.

Hello to everyone and have a good day,
Karrine

Good morning GG's,

Here we are at Monday again. Not that it makes that much difference not that I am retired. Except I guess that on weekends, Maddie is home with Sara, so we get a little “time off” from kid watching duties.

Saturday, Maddie was feeling better enough and she and Sara went and spent the day and Maddie overnight with a friend of Sara's who has a little girl Maddie's age that she enjoys playing with.

Jason came over to help Steve get some pine needles off the roof. There was an uncomfortable part where Sara popped back in to drop something off and Jason was here. The two of them used to be like best friends, but had a falling out ~ guess it has been a couple years now. They haven't seen each other or spoken to each other since that time and Jason has been going to great lengths to make sure he doesn't run into her. So when Sara came, Steve headed her off and Jason quick came in the house so they only caught a glimpse of each other ~ nothing else. But that was enough to really upset Jason and make for an uncomfortable rest of the afternoon.

Not feeling too good ~ I think last week kind of got me run down and my RA meds make my resistance to fight off stuff less. Kind of a little stuffed up, sorish throat, a bit of a cough, sneezy at times. Sometimes kind of hot, then feeling chilly. I thought if I could get some sleep, I'd feel better, but haven't been sleeping that great. Guess it will pass.

Karrine ~ sorry your ankle is still bothering. I wondered if maybe something like an aircast would provide more support to help your ankle. I was playing around on here and came across your picture on your profile ~ nice to be able to put a face with the name.

Sandy ~ glad your granddaughter is feeling better. Your daughter's painting sounds lovely. Glad you got to enjoy the basket ball game this weekend.

Carol Sue and Mary ~ hope you had a nice weekend.

I've been up since 4:30 ~ maybe I can get a nap in a bit.

Hope you all are having a good day.

Went to church yesterday, I'd missed three Sundays so glad to get back. We went to an Indian restaurant for lunch but didn't enjoy it so much, I think we are just tired of all the regular restaurants, need to branch out more. Soon after we got home, our son and his fam dropped by. He left this am for China on another business trip.

The man is here installing our garage door. I would think it would be at least a two man job but it's just him. I plan to clean the living room thoroughly today and whatever else I have time for.

I really like my new blender! It's the best one I've ever had. In the past I tried a couple more expensive ones but returned them, but this is the most expensive I've kept ($70+tax). I have only had a chance to use it once, however. I made a smoothie with nf milk, strawberries, Trop 50 OJ, a banana and about a tablespoon of french vanilla Slim Fast powder. It was very good! My only problem is that I have had trouble removing the blender jar from the base, I have given up and just tipped it to pour it into a glass and both times it then released as I tipped it. I know it's probably just something I'm not doing right and hopefully will figure it out soon. It blends well and very quickly...ice is nothing to this machine which is important to me. I don't have any mocha mix right now so haven't been able to make my mochas.

My itchiness is about to drive me crazy! My head, my ears, my underarms...one underarm is even red and hurts from my scratching and using deodorant. I even switched to a natural deodorant that seems like it would be very gentle. I've been hoping as the weather warms up perhaps it will go away, however my head itched through all the seasons for a few years now, only the other areas are new. Between the itching and my off and on back pain, I feel like a mess again. Thankful things aren't worse but have just felt kinda on edge because of it.

Glynne - It's sad when family does not get along. Hopefully in time they will get past this.

Karrine - I hurt my shoulder at the gym several years ago and it took two years to heal. Then I re-injured it in Dec 2011 and it's hurt ever since. I was going to PT for my back at the time so they included it in the treatment and I was in PT for three or four months. PT helped my back, but while my shoulder improved it still hurts and it's been over four years now. I still cannot lie on it for more than a few seconds usually but sometimes in the mornings, I can lie on it for a few minutes. If I lay on it more than that, it will ache for a while afterwards. When I'm up though it doesn't hurt much anymore, as long as I'm careful how I move it. I too like mystery books. Not sure I've read any by the names you mentioned, but I do recognize one of the names. I'll check them out. All I need is more books! Not!

Sandy - Your dd's picture sounds lovely! I love pictures of horses. So glad your grd is so much better too. Such a relief. Glad your dh is able to do work around the house. Dh was in HVAC and also has done a lot of electrical work. Really helps to save money!

Good morning everyone,
So far everything is clear here today but that big storm is supposed to come in today. I'm thinking about trying to find someone to clear my driveway for the rest of this winter as it is getting harder and harder to walk. I think I will just have French Toast for supper tonight with a little maple syrup.

Gayle Hope you are feeling better today. That picture was taken about 4 years ago before I put on all this extra weight. I was even too heavy back then lol.

Mary Glad you finally found a blender that you like. I hope none of you don't think I have bad hygiene because I wash everyday but I stopped using deodorant a few months ago because I seldom sweat except with working in a hot summer sun when I do use it. So sorry to hear your story about your shoulder....I sure hope that isn't the case with me.

Hello to everyone else and have a good day,
Karrine

Mary, I'm glad you like your new blender. I hardly ever use a blender and mine is very old. I do have a few other small blenders. One is a generic Bullet, and another is just a small blender that we got as a premium at the casino. It was my intention to start making protein shakes etc with them, but I did it a couple times and then quit. I could not get my mind to recognize them as a meal replacement. I still wanted to chew something so ended up eating my regular meals too. I was just adding more calories to my diet.

There are so many different things that cause itching. Do you get it all over or just in the places your mentioned? I know your old doctor gave you so treatment for your scalp itch, but did you ever mention it to your new doctor? Rather than just give you topical treatement, maybe he could find the cause. I get a lot of itchiness, too, but since it is in places where I have psoriasis, that's what I blame mine on. My legs and back are the worst, and that's where my psoriasis is the worst.

Karrine, when I was younger I perspired very heavily, not matter what I did. It stained my clothes and was very embarrassing. I tried everything until I found Certain Dri, an antiperspirant. It was the only thing that kept me dry. I used it for years. Eventually, I noticed the perspiring had stopped completely. I think it was hormonal and the change was due to menopause. I stopped using deodorant years ago when they started saying that the aluminum in it led to Alzheimer's disease. I believe they found now that it's not true, but DH says I don't smell and I never went back to wearing deodorant. I have some, and use it when I get dressed up for special occasions, but that's just because I feel that I should. Underarm odor is caused by bacteria in a warm moist environment. I believe if you wash regularly and don't perspire you don't need deodorant. We are all different.

I don't think you look heavy in that picture. You look very attractive.

CarolSue Funny how menopause changes so many things about our body. Perspiration odor is definitely one of them. I remember my shock as teen that I smelled a new odor and was surprised. I used heavy one for years but in past few only use it on Monday's and Wednesdays, the two days I go out every week, and unless I take a shower the next day I don't use any more.

Biggest change for me on menopause has been the stoppage of Migraine headaches that troubled me from early in life. This past year I don't remember any, but instead began having the funny aurora that interfered with vision maybe 4 times a year. No pain, no diarrhea, no vomiting, no extreme anxiety and just wanting to find a hole and crawl in, and hide in the dark. Be glad when the other 3 gals in our family stop this awful pain, too. DIL says that she still has them even tho she had her diseased female organs removed some years back. DGD really has migraines bad and she takes a medication to help ease them.

I tried a medication for the Migraine one week and had such horrible hallucinations of spiders coming down from ceiling or sky and crawling all over me. Then I flushed those tablets down the toilet. I take pain instead, easily.

Mary Itchiness: Sympathy. I have days of that, but notice I'm anxious, too. Wonder which comes first. This past few days haven't thought about it.
Will your son be living in China for a while? Safe travel for him.

Book club today was fun. Had a delightful time as we discussed, Big Little Lies I gave it a 4 out of 5 as being interesting. One gave it a zero because she works with those who are abused and she couldn't stomach it.
We had a laugh at one character who would impulsively do some funny things. We meet once a month. I borrowed the next book from the library.

Time to get ready for supper. Enjoy a good evening. Sandy

Good morning,
Here it is at 2 am and I can't sleep. I have night's like this so come onto the computer to get my eyes tired enough to try and go back to sleep. I called the physiotherapist yesterday and have an appointment next Monday. They couldn't get me in any sooner. She asked me if I had a cane so I might go purchase one. I could hardly walk yesterday and found someone to clear my snow for the rest of the winter. The big dump we got last night is really deep and no way could I clear it. It was going to cost me $50.00 plus tax for one visit or $150.00 plus tax for the month of March. I think what we got last night might be the last for this season but you never know so that is why I took the one month rate. I sure hate paying for something that I usually do but I guess my health comes first.

Carol - I'm glad I'm not the only one who has stopped using deodorant. I always needed to use it before menopause but not now anymore. TY for the compliment.

Sandy - I'm so glad your migrains have stopped now. That must have been terrible. I have a friend who always got them and they knocked her right out.
I guess there are good things that happen after menopause.

Hello to everyone and have a good day,
Karrine
I'm going back to bed now to see if I can doze off.