Belovedwarrior - Oh I didn't realize they were season 6...all I saw was 5. That's great in case we forget to tape. I'm so hooked on that show and dh thinks I'm crazy I think. :)

Well I'd love to drink a grape soda...:D used to love those things when I was a kid. If the gas continues I might try it...just have to work it into my carb count unless there is sugar free. We do have some club soda but I hate the taste, but I guess I could try a little of that, never thought of it til now. I'm not bound up as in constipation, just full of gas . My abdomen was like this with my previous hernia which was repaired in 1991 and I'm not sure when it happened but by 2009 I found out it had opened up again. So I'm trying to put off the surgery until I get too uncomfortable. It is so different this time so far. I took two more gas pills and I'm feeling a little better tonight but it's still there.

So sorry you had to go through that when you were so young..my dh had to have several inches removed due to polyps that were pre-ca and they couldn't get otherwise, but nothing like you've gone through. Carol been through a lot too with her colon.

Our son just stopped in to spend the night, he worked late and spending the night here cuts his hour commute by half.

Good morning everyone,
I behaved badly on my diet yesterday as for some reason I felt hungry all day and therefore over ate by quite a bit. I'll try to make up for some of that today. I'm hoping to make a chicken dinner tonight it thaws in time as I just took it out of the freezer. If not, I'll make it tomorrow.

Carol - I got rid of my very old pressure cooker as it scared me too much but I know the new models are quite easy to use. I'm going to use my slow cooker for a roast this Super Bowl weekend and will try putting in a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup like you do. I've never done that before. I'll also put in potatoes; carrots and onion. Montreal is a very unfriendly place for English speaking people. They even have a "language officer". One business there had a sign advertising "Grilled Cheese Sandwiches" in English and was fined for not using French. Some parts of the city are more tolerant of English.

Beloved - Welcome to our group and hope you decide to join us.

Mary - are you feeling better today? Stomach and intestine problems are awful. I found out during a colonoscopy that I had a twisted bowel and diverticulosis which was causing much of my problems. I had to have almost 2 feet of my large intestine removed. For many years the doctor was treating me for tummy problems when all along it was the twisted bowel. Things are much better for me now but I still have occasional upsets. You sure have travelled a lot in your lifetime. In addition to living close to a beach I also live only 2 hours from Niagara Falls and have been there quite a few times years ago. I'm glad you enjoy coming to Canada.

Have a good day everyone,
Karrine

Karrine, I made the roast with the Mushroom Soup twice, so I want to give you some warning. The first time I did it I put in the whole can of mushroom soup and some beef broth, thinking I needed the liquid. Part way through I looked at it and the roast had released liquid and there seemed to be too much. I dumped some of it out, but since the Mushroom Soup was mixed it I lost some of the flavor from the soup. This time I added half the can of soup when I put the roast in, and just a small amount of broth, like 1/4 cup. Halfway through, there was more liquid than I wanted but not as much as last time. I used a ladle to take some of it out, then added the rest of the soup. I reserved what I took out and put it in a fat separator in case I needed more liquid, but I didn't need it. What I ended up with was so tasty and just about the consistency of gravy and so delicious. I put in on around 9 AM. I cooked it on high for an hour then turned it down. At noon, we went out to the store. When we came back, it didn't seem to be too tender so I turned it to high again for another hour, then back down to low. It was done around 3. I let it rest while I made the sides and we ate around 4:30. It was a very lean roast that I didn't think would get so tender, but it did.

When we went to Montreal, we made a wrong turn and ended up where they only speak French. We had to get directed back across a bridge it seems to where they spoke English. We didn't have any problem there, but we were only there a day or two. We went on a bus tour of the city. I don't remember a lot of it, but I probably have pictures. When we were in Niagara Falls we went on a boat tour up the St Lawrence. I wanted to do that because when my parents went there on their honeymoon, they went on that St Lawrence boat ride, too. It stopped at a castle and we toured that. Interesting.

Beloved Warrior, back in 2010 or so, I started having pain low in my groin. It would come and go. Finally one day I woke up and it was very bad. Pain so bad I had to hold onto the walls to walk down the hallway. DH said I ate something bad. After 6 hours of this, I made him take me to the ER. I told him I didn't care if they told me I had a stomach ache, I wanted to get checked. At the ER they did tests and told me I had to go up for surgery immediately. They said if I had waited another 2 hours to come I would have probably died. It turned out that I had diverticulitis but didn't know it. My colon had perforated and leaked into my abdominal cavity and I had perotonitis. The surgeon told my husband that he really didn't think I would make it through the surgery, I was so full of puss and infection. When I woke up, they told me I still had infection and wasn't out of the woods. They had removed part of my colon and rectum. I had to have a colostomy bag for 6 months while it healed, and then I had it reversed. I didn't like the colostomy bag, but I got used to it. The problem was my stoma was flat against my stomach instead of sticking up a bit, and I had a lot of problems with the bag, with leakage. It wouldn't stay in place correctly. I was always so afraid to go out anywhere for fear I would have a leak. Also, I had a fear after the reversal because they told me that some people's bowels never return to normal afterwards, but mine did after about a week, then gradually got better. When I had the colostomy I had to be careful what I ate. Never popcorn! Nothing that could get stuck in the stoma. I had to eat slowly and chew my food thoroughly. The doctor told me the diverticulitis could return so I have to be careful and get scared every time I get a pain.

Mary, I am obsessed with The Young and The Restless and the Bold and the Beautiful, the way you are with Downton Abby. When I worked, I taped them and watched them in the evening. That was 1 1/2 hours of watching, so I rarely watched anything else and never got into watching TV in the evening. Now I'm home when it's on from 12:30-2 so I watch it then, and try to exercise while watching it. If we go out somewhere, it's on again in the evening on another channel so I watch it then. Even if you miss a day or two of watching, it's easy to catch up because a day in the soap opera usually lasts a week on TV. LOL DH doesn't watch it with me, but sometimes he's in the room when it's on and he's gotten to know some of the characters. A lot of the soap operas have been taken off the air. I'm so glad mine hasn't. I am so obsessed with it, I sometimes have dreams that these people are in my life. I didn't watch soap operas all my life. I was around 50 years old when a woman at work got me interested in it.

I hope you start to feel better. I'm wondering if it would be any soda that would help you, not just grape. Maybe that's what they had in the hospital. I would think it was the carbonation that helped. I hope you don't have to have surgery again. I get pains sometimes on my left side but it's down by my waist. That's where I had the nerve pain when I had shingles and I always think it's just residual pain. DH had his shingles across his chest. If he puts his cell phone in his shirt pocket he gets a burning pain and has to take it out.

Good morning GG's,

Kind of an overcast day here today. Maybe that is a good thing ~ I read that the groundhog didn't see his shadow, so an early spring.

The walking has been kind of sparodic. I get to working on some project and I want to keep going with it and don't want to stop to walk. What am I gonna do with me? I sort of feel like ~ keeping busy is a good thing ~ I am up and moving around even if it isn't formal exercise.

I did a lot of puttery stuff yesterday. Felt good to get stuff done. Today dentist appointments.

Carol Sue ~ Your roast sounds yummy. I watched soap operas some at different times in my life. I remember my grandma used to watch some ~ she called them her “stories”. I remember asking her questions about the characters. In Jr. Hi the big thing was to watch Dark Shadows. Then when my kids were little, I got hooked on General Hospital and another one. When I started timing my errands and my life around those shows so I wouldn't miss them, I decided that maybe I shouldn't watch them anymore. My dad used to watch them in the afternoons after we were grown and gone (he was a night shift worker). But he eventually quit. My mom started watching a couple after she retired. Dad had been soap opera free for quite a while and kind of growled at her for her watching habit. When she started with the dementia, he kind of made me mad ~ she didn't remember when they were on and because he didn't like them, he wouldn't turn them on for her. He did the same thing with the show American Idol ~ mom liked that and he hated it, so he took advantage of her not remembering when it was on and wouldn't turn it on for her. I loved my dad, but that just didn't seem very nice thing to do to mom.

Karrine ~ you'll get back on track with your diet. How is your ankle doing? When our kids were little, we lived in Maine and used to go into Canada a lot ~ different places. Montreal, Quebec City, Nova Scotia. My husband's father's people were from Nova Scotia, so that was an interesting area for him to see.

Mary ~ sorry you are not feeling well. Maybe this is why you were not feeling like doing anything here lately. Please, I hope you would go to the doctor if this keeps going on ~ to find out what is wrong. I want you to be ok. Glad you got a little “son' time.

Welcome Belovedwarrior ~ glad to have you join us.

How are you doing Homegirl?

Hello Sandy ~ hope all is well with you.

Guess I'd better get off here ~ get showered and dressed for the dentist. Think they might not enjoy the site of me showing up in my jammies ~ LOL.

Hope you all are having a good day.

Hi again,
I'm not too busy today so am on the computer more playing games and writing letters. I'm also doing a little more genealogy research for my family tree.

Carol - Thank you so much for warning me about adding the Cream of Mushroom soup & broth to the beef roast this weekend. I'll do what you did the second time. Oh my....did you ever have a wicked terrible time with your perforated colon and colostomy bag. I feel so sorry for you and what you went thru.

Gayle - at least you are keeping busy while at home with your projects. Sometimes when I get really involved with my genealogy I forget the time and I'm also not looking for food when my mind is so occupied which is good.

My ankle still hurts and I can't walk far. My winter boots give it more support and I can walk better with my boots on. All in all I think it is improving because I am managing the staircase a little better now. Thank you for asking.

Karrine

Felt slightly better this morning but the gas is still there. I feel like I'm nine months pregnant and my tummy is very tender. I did drop 1.5#..which includes the same 1/2# which I had gained back. One step forward, one step back is the way I go. Anyway, I did drink 1/2 bottle of club soda last night and it seemed to help a little so thanks AKHomeGirl for suggesting that. I gave our son most of what we accidentally bought but still have the remaining 1/2 bottle so I'll drink more today if it doesn't go away soon.

It was nice to have our son here for the night although we were all tired and went to bed soon after he got here. Halo was so happy to see him and to share the bedroom with him. I think she still misses him a lot.

Those (that you mentioned) are the places in Canada I'd still like to see. We have only been to British Columbia ....Vancouver and to Paradise Lake (not far from Vancouver), Victoria and Whistler.

Glynne - I still watch the old Dark Shadows shows from Netflix on DVD. They are so corny they are good. :D Strange how they actually used to seem scary. Another thing that is strange is according to what I've read online they started in 1966 but I feel like I watched them when I was a teenager and I graduated (and left home) in 1961. Guess my memory is wrong but it sure seems that way to me.

On soaps..I was never into them much ...my mom watched one and I used to laugh at her for it...but when I went on swing shift, there for a few years I got hooked on Edge of Night. I was about the same age you were when you started. If you watch them a few times, they have a way of drawing you in. I don't watch any day time shows now except at 4 pm we usually stop what we are doing and watch Judge Judy. Don't know why because many of them are reruns but we got started doing that when RVing.

Carol - That's what I like about crock pot cooking is you can adjust the temp according to your schedule, how tender the meat is etc. You may remember that I had diverticulitis with infection a few years back. Every since then I occasionally have pain in the area. I then increase the fiber in my diet and it goes away. But sometimes all the fiber makes me uncomfortable so I have to ease off...I have told the doctor and he agrees with this. I still usually get more fiber than he says most people do. But then the pain comes again and I have to increase the fiber again. It's a constant battle to find that sweet spot. Yes it is the soda that helps, not the grape, but the grape (and sugar) sure makes it taste better! :) All I have is the plain club soda so I'm using it.

Well need to get my day going...

:wave: Hey everyone...

Mary - I hope you are feeling better. I'm not sure if the Grape Soda thing will work or not, but if you try it ... it is BECAUSE it is GRAPE (I find a little red wine helps in the same way). I don't think the club soda would do the same. (I was writing this as you posted... so --- awesome that you found success with the club soda) :)

Karrine - Thank you for the warm welcome. I do believe this to be one of my 4 hang-outs. I appreciate all I've learned here so far :^: I'm so glad the DR finally found the reason for your discomfort!

Wannabehealthy - OH MY GOSH! How scary... :eek: I had my surgery when I was 24; 36 years ago... they didn't have the reversal option (that I know of) at that time... but I was soooooo sick for sooooo many years and misdiagnosed that I didn't care what they did as long as I could eat whatever I'd wanted because I didn't for so long before. I have been very happy with the ostomy bag. I have to be careful about what I eat. I know veggies can clog me up so... I am curious how the new plan/program I begin on Saturday might go [I will either begin Ideal Protein - which I will decide once I see the nurse/coach - for 2 - 3 months and then slide into South Beach ... or I will just start with SB. I did SB once before and the first week was an adjustment with my output. I'm sure I will have similar experience the beginning of which ever plan I choose]. RE: the flat stoma, I understand. I've had a nice stoma but, because of the weight I have gained (which I was warned about) ... things have changed drastically with the convexity of my stoma. I was not getting a good seal AT ALL! I was going through 3 appliances a day. Thank God... I did get some assistance from the Ostomy nurse and things have been better since October. I am a bit concerned about my stoma area and losing the weight regarding the muscle tone and such around my stomach... and what type of seal I will get... but -- ONE DAY AT A TIME! I won't know without trying ... and obviously what I'm doing now isn't working. Thank you for sharing your experience. (sorry to those of you who don't have a clue what we're discuss ;) )

Glynne - Thanks for sharing... it is sad to watch ppl being treated unkindly and holding your tongue. Some folks are just that way. I'm not saying you're speaking poorly of your dad... just so you don't feel bad... but, I understand it was not very thoughtful on his part. I hope things went well at the dentist. You said it's overcast by you... I'm in a snowglobe :) it's been only snowing 2 hours; it is beautiful and I am sooooo very glad to be retired.

Well GG's ... until tomorrow -- stay healthy --- HUGS!! :hug:

Beloved Warrior- I thought it was the soda because they used to say drink a carbonated drink for an upset tummy. Of course, I do know that wine is good for stomach issues...even the in the Bible, Paul told Timothy to "drink a little wine for your stomach's sake." And it did seem to help a little bit, of course I had taken gas OTC med earlier so it's possible it was just that. ETA: I got your name wrong the first so had to edit..sorry. Oh and I'm wondering whether it is truly grape juice in the grape soda and not artificial flavoring..need to look that up now..LOL

Actually though my stomach is not upset...it is just my abdomen (belly) in general that feels bloated, sensitive, kinda hurts (but not really painful, more just uncomfortable than anything. When I walk I feel "heavily pregnant" if you know what I mean, sorta weighed down. If my abdomen is bumped it is kinda sore. If I sit too long and then get up, it's very uncomfortable. Yet I don't feel like moving around much so I tend to do a little work, then sit down again. I feel like I've experienced this before. I still feel it is caused by my hernia altho I am having less pain around that areas now but I'm also considering other possibilities...an infection of some sort (my bs is extra high today), or my colon. If it doesn't stop before long I'll go in to be checked.

Well it's time to move again..

Mary, the day that I went to the ER before my colostomy surgery my abdomen was very tender to the touch, all over. And on the way to the hospital, it hurt with every bump we hit. The doctor at the ER actually asked me that, if the trip to the hospital hurt when we hit bumps. Don't let it go too long.

Beloved Warrior, this is probably TMI for the others, but explain to me what you mean that the first week with SB was an adjustment with your output. Do you have different output depending on what you eat? I never thought about your stoma changing as you gain weight, but I guess it would. My abdomen is a mess now because they cut through my ab muscles for the colostomy surgery, then 6 month later after it healed, the cut through it again for the reversal. I guess you would not have been able to have a reversal if they removed your entire large intestine. They just cut out a piece of mine. I used the drainable bags and didn't have to change my appliance every day. About every third day, and I always changed it if I was going out somewhere.

When this happened to me, my husband called my friend to tell her what happened. She said it was terrible and she wouldn't know what to do if it happened to her. She spoke too soon, because a week later when she was having a hysterectemy, they nicked her bowel and she had to get a colostomy bag. She had her husband call us to tell us she had to get one too. So we went through it together. She had hers for 4 months before they reversed it, but I had to go for 6 months, as I had more extensive repairs done inside. Karrine, it probably sounds so horrible, but looking back, I got through it, and I know there are people who have much worse things happen to them. When I told people what happened to me, several of them knew people who had a similar thing and they died from it. I was lucky it was caught in time.

Gayle, I can tell by the way you talk about your mother than you are very loving and compassionate toward her. You are a very good daughter.

My mother watched General Hospital for years. I didn't understand what drew her to it. But my younger brother was disabled and she was really house bound with him. It gave some pleasure to her day to enjoy that show. I realize now that you start to feel as if you really know these people. My life is boring compared to theirs. I live vicariously through them. LOL

Hi all .. I don't have any problems answer questions... I hope those in this thread don't mind...

First ... Mary, I don't know what is going on and I heard someone say something about a previous surgery. When I get clogged, too much fiber... peanuts are TERRIBLE... I ate too much popcorn one time and after a day and a half ended up in the ER. After they gave me the dye for the ct-scan ... woosh... cleaned me right out. When I am blocked... it feels like gas pains under my breast area... then it grows and grows where if feels like someone is duking it out in side. I believe the reason for the grape soda's effectiveness is the grape dye... the red wine's red-stuff (I can't think of the word at this time) is what I think helps with that. If you are constipated and having these pains... I don't know... this may be similar to what I experience.

Wannabe... yes, depending on what I eat will make a big difference in my output. It's kinda like a baby... the consistency and odor are effected by what I eat. When I started SB I would have eggs w/spinach and mushrooms, onions, turkey bacon. I think the thing that I reacted to was the spinach... it just liquefied every thing (breads, pasta, etc are binders) ... and made it difficult to maintain a good seal. As far as the changes I'm experiencing ... it's not my stoma that has changed, but rather the skin around it. My fat tummy has made somewhat of a cone around the stoma... keeping me from getting a good seal because the skin isn't flush. Thankfully they make convex flanges and that has helped tremendously. Changing an appliance 3 times in one day is far from the norm. Typically a person should get a good 5 days before having to change. Because of the new appliance I am getting 7 - 10 days of wear (again) ... Thank God! Those puppies are NOT cheap!

So, there is your anatomy 101 class for the evening :dizzy: Probably WAY TMI!! :D But, please... don't hesitate to ask questions.

Wannabe --- prior to my surgery I was sick for over 2 years... I ended up in the hospital because I was anemic. While in the hospital I went into toxic mega colon (large intestine filled with poison). Had it burst I would have died. I KNOW how lucky you are. You are a mini-miracle walking today ... as well are many of us, I'm sure.

Blessings to all... sleep well :smug:

Good morning everyone,

I don't have anything to tell you today....just another boring day doing the same things ie: reading; cleaning and some more computer research. I sure will be glad for spring so I can get out into the gardens and be more active. We have had an easy winter so far and not much snow. Last year we got so excited to finally see some grass from the melting snow but right now we can see more grass than snow on the lawns which sure is odd for this time of year.

Mary - glad you are starting to feel a little better and good for you losing another 1-1/2 lbs!!!. I have never followed the soups but do have friends who were hooked on them.

Beloved - with what you wrote and (I don't quite understand but do get the gist of it) it looks like many of us have intestinal problems in varying degrees. I feel bad for what you are going thru trying to find the right plan for yourself but do hope that whatever one you choose will help.

Mary - I don't know much about the more serious complications you all are having but would prune juice help at all? That is what they gave me in the hospital which helped.

Carol - you are were lucky that your problems were caught in time. My problems are insignificant compared to what some of you are putting up with and have been through and are still struggling.

I do know that I sure am glad that I am at home when my problems flair up and not in some nursing home where you have to share a bathroom.

Have a good day everyone,
Karrine

I'm amazed how calm each of you seem inspite of some truly major problems. I admire the way each of you cope and go on with living the best you can.

My largest issue now is the Asthma that flared up Christmas with Poinsettias decorating the Church and in the Chapel (where little ventilation is available.

After I finally was doing more normal, the snow storm hit and I was house bound for 10 days. THEN, the spot remover DD got, thinking she had a bargain, really caused the Asthma to flair beyond the meds I had available. Thank goodness I received new meds and am now breathing far better.

Today's massage and hair cut has me feeling so very, very good!!!. I had taken 1/2 peanut butter/orange marmalade sandwich on whole whenat bread and water for my lunch. Except for black coffee at Salon, I was happy with plenty of drinking water till I finally got home 8 hours later. Good to be home.

Scale really jumped this morning to number I"ve not seen in months. Not really sure why but hopefully as I get back to Gym tomorrow this weight will begin to go down at least to where I was a few weeks ago.

Beloved Warrior Glad you decided to make this one of your places to talk with us. I like coming here, too.

Gardening!!! Will we ever get to do so? I was on road all day, but DH actually cut down and mulched up the 10 foot tall Silver Grass that gives privacy between good neighbor with swiming pool next door. He also mowed our yard. It was in the 60's outside. Sorry I was stuck in car or in buildings. All snow is finally gone from our yard. In the city, some dirty piles are still taller than my car.

Sandy

Hello everyone. I got a call tonight that my 57 year old niece had a series of heart attacks and is in Intensive Care on life support. I am just heart sick. This started 2 weeks ago and they could not get in touch with me. (no one could find my phone number) I talked to her brother, who is going through treatment for cancer. He seems to be very uninformed as he answered "I don't know" to most of my questions, but from his description of the situation it seems very grave to me. I just want to sit down and cry, and I think I will.

Wannabe --- (Carol Sue) I am so sorry... this has just got to floor you. Being an Auntie is so precious... and to not know anything specific. Please, have a good cry and know that I'm crying for and with you... and praying for you and your niece and nephew also. HUGS!!! :grouphug:

Love2Garden - thank you for the kind words. I'm lucky because I just accepted my situation. Compared to the 2 years of being sick and the alternative ... Calm's a good choice :)

Hey Karrine - I see you mention you do genealogy... I've been dabbling with that on my mother's side for over 20 years. Not easy finding some stuff. My dad did all his side of the family and even found relatives in Norway :comp:

Mary -- I hope you are doing well today. Sending you HUGS! :getwell:

To all others... ENJOY your evening and we'll catch up with you tomorrow ...

Finally getting here. I felt better this morning...not normal yet but getting there. We went to the gym and I just did cardio. Dh was very tired and only wanted to be there for 30 min. Then we went grocery shopping...realized I'd left my list at home...haven't been putting on my phone lately....but I did pretty well remembering everything. Only forgot three things which we can pick up later. I wasn't feeling so well after we got home but I had lunch then took a long nap again and woke up feeling better again. Transferred the money we kept in an online bank, I loved the online bank and liked the better interest but dh has never felt comfortable with it and his comfort is more important to me. It was funny though...at first I only called them to get his password reset so I could access his account to download the tax form. Until then I didn't even remember I'd made him the primary on the accounts! Sure wish I hadn't because then they had to talk to him, and ask him all these questions to make sure he was the right person and he couldn't hear and would ask me and they'd tell me I couldn't talk for him...it was crazy! One operator gave up and turned him over to another...at least that one asked him questions he could better understand and finally we were done with that part. But by the time we were done he wanted to delete the accounts, we'd discussed this before and he'd given in to me so when I got to the next operator I finally just did it. Then I worked a little more on our taxes this afternoon...I'm almost done. Looks like we may get a refund which we haven't gotten in many years. I keep thinking I must have made a mistake! ;)

Yesterday was our 16 year old gs' birthday. I forgot so quickly sent him an Amazon gc to his email. That's what his mom always recommends anyway. I chatted with him a bit via text and he agreed that's the best way to go. He sounds so grownup now.

I haven't been eating very well since this thing started. I usually get at least one healthy meal and at least one healthy snack though. Not much has sounded good, even things I usually like. So last night I caved and asked dh to get me some sugary junk food, I ate it an enjoyed it. Went to bed feeling pretty good. My bs was high anyway and it didn't hurt it much more as far as I can tell. I tested before bed to be sure it wasn't sky high. I've always been funny that way with sugar carbs...sometimes they don't even affect my bs....when other foods will...I'll never understand that but normally I try to stay away from them. He also got Chinese again last night and I was able to eat some of it too, then had a spring roll for my lunch today. For breakfast I had oatmeal with some apple chunks in it so it's not all bad. Not sure about tonight because dh doesn't want me to cook, he's not hungry. But at least there is no junk in the house now.

Carol - So sorry to hear about your niece! It is difficult when you can't get any info. Her brother couldn't even give you any numbers for someone else to call or the hospital? Praying you can get more info and for your niece too.
Crying is completely appropriate.

Sandy - Glad your asthma is better now. That must be very uncomfortable. Glad your snow is gone and 60s sounds great! We are supposed to get some 60 days soon and they are predicting an early spring again this year. Dh is anxious for spring so he can start working outside and gardening again too. He is always less tired when he's active outside.

Karrine - Thanks, but it's not constipation so don't think I need prune juice...ugh! I know it does help though when needed. We have dried prunes still from our tree last summer and I love them, just not the juice. But no, that's not my problem as far as I can tell.

Beloved Warrior (love that name, btw!) - This can't be too much fiber because I was in my less fiber mode recently and in fact was thinking it might be time to increase it when this began. However I don't notice that anymore and since I haven't felt much like eating anything I have not increased it. I get the idea of the grape soda now! Never thought of dye.
Usually try to stay away from that stuff. My tummy still feels full and tender but is a little better. I don't seem to be constipated. Other than heartburn now and then and mild discomfort around my hernia (which is not unusual) I have no other symptoms. Hopefully it will be gone soon.

Hope you all are having a good evening. Bye til tomorrow.

Good evening GG's,

Carol Sue ~ so sorry to hear about your niece ~ and your nephew as well. Tears are completely understandable. Let them come. Prayers going up for all of you.

Checking in tonight ~ won't be by my computer tomorrow. I am going to my son's to help him with his prep for a colonoscopy on Friday. Mostly lending moral support I guess and having been through it, can maybe answer his questions, and try to calm his worries. Or by visiting ~ maybe take his mind off things a little bit.

He has been having some bleeding when he has a bowel movement. And he feels like there is some kind of lump up in there ~ only way they can know is to look up there. There is a history of colon cancer on my father's side of the family, so better to get it checked out. On my last one, they found and removed a pre-cancerous polyp. I am praying so hard that for him it is just hemorrhoids. He is 38 years old.

I finished my daughter's pillows today. She was happy with how they turned out.

Guess I'd better get off and head to bed. Hope to get more persoanls done on another posting.

Hope you all have a good rest tonight.

Here is a pic of one of Sara's pillows.

Good morning everyone,

Sandy - hope your Asthma problems don't flair up too much for you and that you can control it as much as possible with meds, etc.

Carol - I'm so very sorry to hear about your niece and nephew too. I hope today goes better for you to grasp this very sad news and will keep both in my prayers.

Beloved - I too have been researching my Family tree for many many years before the advent of computers. Using a typewriter; photocopy machine and microfiche reader at a library and trudging through cemeteries and snail mail to relatives was fun but with the advent of computers and Ancestry.com sure has given me more information and leads. I still have a box full of those letters from family members who have since passed away and am so fortunate to have gotten their stories and pictures before they died.

Mary - I do my income tax by hand first and then use a computer tax program to see if it comes out the same. I also remit my taxes online now. How wonderful that you have a prune tree!! Nothing like that grows where I live.

Gayle - good for you in visiting you son to give him advice and support during his preparation for a colonoscopy. They aren't much fun and I'm sure he is worrying about it with having blood show up in output.

Have a good day everyone,
Karrine

They say things always look better in the morning, and I am feeling better about my niece. I could probably call the hospital but I doubt if they would give any information to an aunt. I could call her husband, but I think he has enough to handle. When I asked my nephew all the questions he didn't know the answers and he said now he realizes that there's a lot he doesn't know, so maybe he will ask these things. He said he will keep me posted. She raised her kids from her first marriage. She remarried, and also raised his 3 children. She took in her MIL when she had dementia, took in her mother until she had to go into a nursing home, took care of her 2 grandchildren while the parents worked, and has had a couple of her step-children come back from time to time with their families. She has done so much for others. No one knows if she was having any symptoms before this happened because she can't talk to tell anyone. Her husband said she was throwing up, which can be a sign of a heart attack, but they thought it was from something she ate. This has been going on for 2 weeks and they seem to think she's making progress, but I'm so afraid she might never be well enough to do more than lie in bed.
We were at a picnic this past summer and had so much fun talking about past family matters. I keep picturing her like that, and she may never be like that again. I guess I should be more optimistic.

Mary, I'm so glad you're feeling a little better and were able to go to the gym. I think when you don't feel good, eating something you really like helps lift your mood, even if it's not healthy food.

For years I did our taxes myself and mailed in the return. Now we are below the taxable limit. They take taxes out of DH's pension check but we get it all back. I could have them stop deducting it, but I let it go in case we need that tax paid in someday. One year I won $2000 and we still didn't get into a taxable bracket. I guess sometimes it's beneficial to be poor. LOL So we are no longer tax paying citizens. I don't understand doing the taxes online, so we go to a free AARP tax service in our area.

I always have to talk for Jerry on issues regarding things like his medical insurance, etc. He has to get on the phone and verify who he is and give them permission to talk to me. Also, since the cable bill is in his name, he had to give them permission to talk to me about changes we were making. I think it's good that they did that with the online bank. It could have been anyone calling.

Gayle, I hope your son is OK. I think most time visible blood is from hemorrhoids. It's when it's blood in the stool that it is coming from farther up.

I just noticed your quote from Joel Osteen. I never paid a lot of attention to him, but recently I saw a book in Target, You Can, You Will, and I checked it out of the library yesterday. I'm hoping it will help me become more optimistic about things.

Sandy, I hope your Asthma settles down soon. That must be terrible.

Karrine, some of my cousins have done some geneology research and have accounts online in Ancestry.com. I am a member of these accounts and go in and look at them once in a while. One of them has me listed as a member, and I get emails from them when new info is added, but when I try to log in it tells me I don't have access and to contact so and so. These people don't know me, but I am their relative on my mother's side. It's just that they all know each other and I don't know any of them. When I first joined I told them who's granddaughter I am, and it was OK then, but I guess since then they have blocked me for some reason. It's not important enough to me to speak up, but they why send me the emails? LOL

This is not my week. Things are going from bad to worse. Now the sewer is clogged in the basement.

Well, our taxes are done and it still shows a refund, so hoping that's correct. It's hard to believe after so many years of paying, paying, paying...maybe it's our turn. :) Ever since I started working at age 16 in a grocery store (before that I only babysat and did ironing for neighbors), I have done my/our tax returns. Only once have we hired someone to do it...and that ended up costing us a lot! We probably would have had to pay a lot in taxes that year anyway, and it did relieve a lot of stress for me because of the difficult situation we were in at the time, but it cost a lot just to have them do it also and I hope to never have to have someone else do our taxes again. That year was very different, much more complex but usually our taxes are not that difficult, and my budgeting software I have used in recent years helps a lot at what used to be tedium working getting all the deductions together etc. And also for several years now I've been using TurboTax online. We can't use the free one but it is worth every penny as it makes it so easy and less time consuming. I just do a little of it every day or so and it saves where I'm at each time and it also efiles for me.

Carol - That's nice that you don't have to pay, but I would have them stop deducting it and put it into a savings account so you can at least get some interest. You can still keep it in case you need it to pay taxes one day. Your business, sorry, but just what I would do. I'm glad you can get your return done for free. You could probably use the free one with TurboTax too and it is very easy...they guide you through it, but still easier to just have someone do it if it's free.

Yeah I know the online bank had to verify that it was the right person, but it was just so funny the way it went with dh unable to hear and asking me and them telling me to basically shut up! I'm trying to tell him not to ask me, but yet trying to help him...motioning etc., but he just couldn't get it. Felt sorry for him (and the agent on the phone!) but it was funny too. He just wanted to get off the phone and watch TV.:D He leaves all the finances to me.

We went looking at tile/linoleum today just to get ideas as I am hoping to get our main bathroom remodeled soon. Dh has never been happy with the the wall tile installed in early 90s, and the floor looks terrible now. Just went looking at types, color/patterns and prices for now. If we decide to not do both, we definitely need to do the floor. Our home needs so much work, but I'm trying to do one thing at a time. We also want to travel so have to make sure I keep some money for that too. Today dh was saying perhaps we should just sell and buy another place that's already remodelled. I don't think we can get enough from our house now though to get a home we will really want...possibly a small condo, but I'd prefer a smallish house with a small yard if we move. The value is coming up per Zillow but it needs so much work I doubt we can really get even what Zillow says.

I'm feeling much better today. Still don't feel like cooking but have to cook the beef I have thawed so will tonight. Also have lots of veggies I need to use. Food is too expensive to waste. It's hard to make meat (esp beef) soft enough for dh to eat but I cut it small and then he cuts it up (after it's cooked) even smaller with the kitchen scissors. I suggested grinding it but he prefers the scissors. I thought maybe I should just stick to ground beef or even ground turkey for now but he gets tired of ground beef and ground chicken/turkey is not very appealing to us. My dd says I am a picky eater...I never thought I was...I would say she is more than I, but recently I've decided that maybe I am afterall. So many things just don't seem to appeal to me anymore esp meats.

I would like to do a genealogy...a lot of my dad's side has been done by my nephew. He is disabled and had the time to do it and did a good job, but I would love to go further with it, back to when they came to America etc. and also would like to do more on my mom's side. I have an account with Ancestry.com but just a free one. Have any of you got a paid acct with them...wondering what the difference really is.

Karrine - That's a lot of work to do the genealogy that way. I think that's the way my nephew did it too. I think he called and wrote people to get info too. Thank goodness for the internet! It's time that keeps me from doing it...I have started many times but then got too busy to continue. I am glad that I have what he did at least. We have what we call our orchard...it's just small area of our back yard where we have several fruit trees/bushes. Last year we got our first peaches and they were very tasty...we had had one peach on it before but it fell off before it was ready to pick. We have an apple tree and the apples taste good but are small and usually wormy so we don't eat them much. We also have some new cherry trees which have replaced one that got too tall and we had to cut it down as the roots were going under our concrete patio, and we have two or three blueberry plants, beside the plum tree. That's all I can remember. So far we don't get a lot of blueberries but they are tasty. We have a lot of plants..it is hard to keep up with it all..dh works hard at it all...garden, orchard and flowers/other plants and I only do a little. I keep telling him to let me know when he is ready to hire someone to help him, or to move. He talks about it but never makes the decision. I know if he goes before me I cannot keep up with it all.

Glynne - Hoping things are going well for your son. You are a good mother, Gayle, you help your kids so much, and I know you've been through a lot with them too..I hope they appreciate it and I'm sure they do. Sounds like hemorrhoids but it's good to check esp with the family hx. Once I had bleeding just from eating a large prime rib at a party...I rarely ate meat at the time, but it tasted so good that night. As soon as I ate it I felt sick then noticed the blood. Was checked the next day but nothing showed up so think in my case it was just the red meat! I love the pillows!! Again your kids are fortunate to have you!!:)

Well I need to get to work and make up for all my being lazy recently. Hope you all are having a good day.

Well, $720 later the sewer is cleaned out. DH tried for a while but couldn't do it so we called a plumber. It was clogged between the garage and the street.

My nephew called and said Nancy is doing much better today. I think part of the reason she was so out of it was because they had her sedated and now the sedation is wearing off.

Gayle, you did a beautiful job on those pillows. They look so nice on the couch.

Hi Folks...

Wannabe - so glad you were able to get the sewer issue fixed... and that you heard about your niece. I hope your tomorrow is a little brighter ;)

Mary - great to hear you are feeling better AND that you are getting a refund... AWESOME!!

I don't have much time tonight...

Cleaned my pantry and frig... the freezer is tomorrow. GETTING READY!

Hope you all have a great night :comp:

Good morning everyone,
Something unexpected happened yesterday in that a good friend from church called and asked me out for lunch. It ended up with me having an extra "treat day" as I had a hot beef sandwich with fries and coleslaw....so much for the diet. I don't expect to lose anything this week. I really should have had mashed potatoes instead of fries as the fries really put my point count way up.

Carol - Your niece sounds like she was a real gem of a person and I'm so glad that she is improving now that the sedation is wearing off. Let's hope & pray that she continues to improve. Don't fret about still getting emails from your cousins....I don't understand that if they have you blocked on ancestry. Glad you got your sewer unblocked. You had quite the day.

Mary - my income is too low to pay taxes or to get any refund so doing my tax return is just a paperwork job that has to be done every year in case things change. Maybe I'll win a lottery LOL. Good luck with your plans for a bathroom renovation. It is always fun to redo and upgrade. I've decided not to put any more capital into my place with big upgrades as I've already done approximately $60,000 worth of upgrades over the past 30 years and feel that the next person who lives here can do it. Now that my income is so low I don't want to be doing that anymore but I do keep my place regularly in good maintenance.

Beloved - I hope you don't have too much waste when cleaning out your freezer today.

Other than going out for a few groceries that are on sale starting today I don't have any plans. Having chicken left overs for dinner tonight.

Have a good day everyone,
Karrine

Karrine, we aren't doing any more updates on our house, either. Just fixing what needs fixed. We got the shingles replaced on the roof a few years ago, but insurance paid for that as it was hail damage. That helped us a lot. The kitchen cabinets were new around 2000, so they should never need replaced. When we had that done I got basic laminate counter tops to save money thinking I could upgrade later on. Now if I mention getting new counter tops DH says "What's wrong with the ones we have?" And really, there's nothing wrong with them. They are not stained or damaged and they clean up nice. I would just like to have granite or something similar, but it's not a need.

The thing about winning the lottery is, you have to play to win. I don't play, but DH does sometimes. He says I should play because I tend to me luckier than he is, but he spends enough on it to suit me. A couple times I won some money at the casinos. I prefer when I win a lower amount that is not taxable. So far I haven't won enough to cause us to owe taxes, or lose our property tax rebate. I don't want to lose the comps I feel I've earned by being a taxpayer all these years. LOL

Beloved, I like when it's time to clean out the freezer because it gives me a day to cook all this meat and then we each get to choose what we want to eat. Right now my freezer is pretty low and needs to be restocked. I'll watch for some sales.

Mary, I know you say that these online tax preparations are easy, but that's because you understand them. One time I tried doing it. I entered all the information on a site that said it was free. It was easy! But when I got to the end, it told me I had to pay $XX.xx and to enter my credit card number. I was so angry! And there was all my personal information entered into their site. I back tracked as well as I could and deleted as much as I could, but I know it wasn't all out of there. So that's when we decided to use the free AARP program. It is 2 days a week, 5 hours a day and fills up fast. You usually have to get there an hour ahead of time and wait for them to open, because by the time they open at 9AM they have met their limit and they tell you to come back another day. Last year was the first time we did that, and the guy did tell me something that I didn't know about and wouldn't have taken into consideration. Either way, we never owe anything. If I stopped having that tax deducted from DH's pension, it would just be an increase in his monthly allotment and would never get put in a savings account. This way we at least get that check every year than we can use for somethng. You don't know how DH is with savings. His attitude is, "you can't take it with you, so spend it." I have to go to great lengths to hide money from him that I've allotted for something. It's only $800 per year. Not enough that would accumulate a great amount of interest. If he were left to manage the finances, our SS and pensions would be gone by the 15th of each month and we would be struggling to get through the last 2 weeks. He was used to knowing he was going to get another pay check each week.

Gayle, does your son know the results of his medical test yet? I hope it's nothing serious.

A couple days ago I realized we forgot to put our Christmas pillows away and bring back our everyday pillows. So we still have pillows out on the couch with snowmen on them. LOL It seems there's always some Christmas decoration that we forget to put away. I had some flameless candles and I noticed that DH put them up on a wall shelf. They look OK there. Not too Christmasy.

Just got home from the gym and a stop for a few groceries. Sitting here drinking a slim-fast now. Do any of you remember the book or movie called "Not Without My Daughter"? Sally Field played the mother in the movie. Her dd is grown up now and has written her own book about that experience and what has happened since. She seems like a very intelligent, mature young woman who has experienced a lot both bad and good. I'm enjoying her book.
I'm also listening to a couple videos (Identity Crisis) and podcast (Serial - more on the story I think I told you about before.) I just keep these open and go back to them when I can.

We've been in our house almost 39 years, and it was built 12 years before that. Very little has been done on it in all those years, and some work was already needed when we moved in, so we about have to remodel things now. We have maintained it so it is structurally sound, and it's comfortable, but doesn't look so good. We are fixing it up a little at a time. The door man still hasn't gotten back to finish the door, in fact dh is calling him right now to try and hurry things up. He did warn us it would take a while, but it's been about a month now again since he was here to inspect the door and we waited about a month for him to inspect it!

Carol Sue - Glad the sewer is fixed, sounds like a big job. Dh buys a lottery ticket or two about once a week I think. He's hasn't won anything other than a $1-3 for a long time. I don't bother to buy them. Guess I understand why you don't put that money in the bank now! Some people feel that way. I've changed a lot myself...used to love to spend, now I love to give and save. If we do get that refund (can you tell I still don't believe it?), it will go into whatever we are saving for at the time...probably the house. I wonder if the tax fee was the fee to efile? I have to pay to use the software because the free one is not enough for us but we don't pay to efile. Nice that you can get them done free though. We always forget to pack something away after Christmas. This year it was an artifical poinsettia plant, still sitting on the coffee table. I stopped buying a real plant because it always died. Thanks for reminding me, I want to put that plant somewhere..even if I don't get it up to the attic as usual. I still have a little reindeer peeking out over our grandmother's clock...I threw it up there one day many years ago (when kids were still home) because we forgot to pack it away. Everyone thinks it looks cute up there. :D

Karrine - Your lunch sounds good...just go back to your diet and try to move a bit and you should be fine. One meal doesn't kill our diets...it's the regular overeating. My problem has always been not being persistence. Figure I'm better off for the trying at least.

Glynne - How is your son?

Hi Beloved, Sandy!

OY! Ow... Today I went in to meet the nurse/coach. She is a very sweet young lady. I did decide to do this program... and start tomorrow. I went out for one last pancake and eggs brunch... then came home after and packed up the freezer (Karrine, not much waste, turns out there was ice cream in there ... REALLY!!) I then went and purchased veggies, and a scale for weighing food, and some no calorie creamer. Dropped off the pantry items, refrigerator items, and freezer items to a friend... Then drove over to another friend, who has dementia, and her husband is cleaning out her bookshelf... so, put the boxes of books in my van (I'll maybe look at those over the weekend... what I don't want will end up going to Liberia with a ministry here in area). I left at 830 am and got home about 5. I could barely walk. I have a full day ahead of me in prepping veggies and other items. ... but tonight... I HURT!! These are the days I am glad I don't have anyone depending on me... because I can do only that which is necessary without feeling guilty.

Mary - I have ancestry.com... but I don't know what the free one offers to know if there is a big difference. Our library has an account people can use without having to pay for an account. Maybe other libraries do also.

As far as taxes go... sadly, I do taxes ... I hate to do taxes ... so this year I am doing them for very few people and when I do their taxes I'm going to let them know that I will not be doing them next year. Except for my neighbor's... they do my snowblowing and mowing ... just because! So, I will continue to do their taxes ... just because. Besides NOW it is easier as it is just the two of them.

Hi Sandy... thank you for the welcome! I hope your asthma settles down quickly. Sending you hugs!! :)

Until next time GG's -- Be good :D

Good morning,

Carol - I had to have my roof replaced in December out of necessity and I'm hoping that nothing else comes up in the line of capital expenses.

Mary - I'm surprised that you are still waiting to get your door fixed. I hope you hear from them soon.. I forgot to mention in my last post how impressive it is that you have such a great orchard growing things that we can't here. We can grow apples; grapes; pears; cherries and raspberries here in the line of fruits. Thank you for urging me on after blowing my diet with a second treat day. I'll be happy if I stay the same this week and not gain.

Beloved - Good for you in your preparation for the new diet program. You can count on all of us for support.

Have a good day everyone,
Karrine

Good afternoon GG's,

It's been a busy couple days. Thursday I spent with Jason helping him keep up with all the steps of his prep for the colonoscopy. Friday, he had the colonoscopy. Thankfully nothing was wrong. He was having bleeding from time to time with his BM's. He thought he had hemorrhoids and that he would have to have the banding procedure or even surgery to remove them. But the colonoscopy showed there weren't any hemorrhoids, no lumps, no polyps, nothing that needed biopsied to check for cancer. He was scared and worried because on my father's side of the family, there is a history of colon cancer. But thankfully nothing was wrong. What a relief. I spent the afternoon then, just visiting with him and helping him with some stuff around his apartment. I enjoy getting to spend time with him.

Karrine ~ I don't think you messed up as bad as you think with your extra treat day. Confession, I have done pretty good, but today ate a couple things I shouldn't have. Oh well, I just will keep trying/aiming for the right stuff.

Beloved ~ sounds like you're all set to start the new diet. You'll do great.

Mary ~ are you feeling better than a few days ago? Hoping so for you.

Carol Sue ~ sorry about the unexpected expense, but glad you got your sewer problem resolved. Glad to hear that your niece is doing better.

Sandy ~ hope your asthma has calmed down and that you are feeling better.

Topics: Ancestry. I looked at the Ancestry.com website back along, but you could only get so far (not very far it seemed) without a version that you had to pay for. There were a lot of links for other places that said free, but when you went to them ~ you also had to pay. I wasn't interested enough I guess, didn't really have the time at the time, didn't know what I was doing to pay out money, so I never did. My dad was interested in doing that, and was all excited when he and mom got a computer, but neither one of them knew anything about computers, didn't have anyone to help them. He just started pressing all kinds of buttons, mom got scared that he was gonna mess something up and that they wouldn't know how to fix it, so they got in a big fight and he vowed never to touch the “stupid thing” again. And he (stubborn man) never did. He didn't hurt anyone but himself as he never did get to enjoy trying to find any of the genealogy stuff he had hoped to find. Sad.

There was a man ~ distant relative of my mom's people who sent her a letter with his e-mail address asking if she could fill in some of the names of her relatives, and dad wanted me to contact him. So I did and shared that info with my dad. He enjoyed that.

I also met up with a lady on Facebook who had done a lot of genealogy about her and her husband's family, and I asked her some questions and gave her the names of my grandparents, and she ~ within in a matter of minutes, gave me a list a few generations back of people on my mom and dad's sides of the family. Sadly, I think my dad had already passed by then and I never got to share the info with him.

I don't have the patience myself to try to search. It seems that unless you know what you are doing, you run into a lot of brick walls. I just don't have the patience for that.

Another topic: Remodeling/homes. When we first moved here (we've been here about 9 years now), there were things we talked about doing, but we never got around to it. Now Steve talks about somewhere down the road, moving to like a condo or similar type situation where someone else looks after the yard and does the up-keep to the outside of the building, as we are getting older and eventually won't be able to do it ourselves. So, we have lived here without doing the things we talked about, it seems silly now at this point to do any of those things if we are not going to stay here. It has always kind of bugged me as we have moved from one place to another, to fix it up to sell. Why couldn't we have fixed it up a little for us to enjoy, instead of for the next people. I guess you do what you have to do to get it sold.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl. Jason was gonna come over and watch with me, but I could tell he really would rather go watch in a different setting. He likes to go to a sports bar type place with people and big screen TV ~ more fun and exciting for him. Since he is never usually off work on Super Bowl Sunday, I told him it was ok for him not to come here and go where it would be more fun for him. It doesn't hurt my feelings. I am glad he is getting to do something fun. He feels like his life isn't always very much fun.

Got to visit with my sister yesterday on the phone, and my mom today. Sara stopped by and I enjoyed getting to visit with her. And Maddie was here for a bit ~ I missed seeing her on Thursday and Friday after school, so enjoyed getting to visit with and hug on her.

Hope you all are having a nice weekend.

Little did I know when I woke up this morning that we would be buying a new car. DH has been wanting one, but he wanted a 2015 Impala and the 2015s are becoming scarce. But today we found one in the color we wanted, and they really wanted to get rid of it, so we got what I think is a great deal. It was like they weren't going to let us leave without it. DH is happy. I'm very nervous because of the payment, and I'm eating from nerves!! We will be OK with the payment, but I always get nervous when we take on a new expense.

Mary, I too am surprised that you are still waiting for the door people. It's really been a while.

Now you reminded me that I still have my artificial poinsettia out. I will have to get DH to put it up in the attic. I don't always get a poinsettia, just if I see one at a good price, but this year I bought this beautiful artificial one at Goodwill. I think it was $2 or $3. It looks real.

I wanted a new skillet to cook my eggs. I bought one today and I thought 9 inch was what I wanted, but after I got home and looked at my old one I realize it's 8 1/2. It's only a half inch, but I want the same size because the new one doesn't come with a lid and I want to use the same lid, so it has to be the same size. When I cook my 2 eggs, the whites spread out to the edge of the pan and it's just the right size. That might seem very picky, but it's what I like. LOL

Last night I was getting ready for bed, and I noticed dh was taking his bp. I asked him why he was taking it and he said he was having left underarm pain. His bp was 170/82. When I asked, he said he'd been having it all evening...great, now you tell me..so I gave him a nitro and a reminder to always tell me right away. At 2 am, he woke me because the pain was back, same place. He took another nitro and again, it went away. I told him if he needed another we needed to either call the doctor or go to ER. He didn't have any more pain, but I didn't get much sleep after that. I was going to cancel going to our gd's game but he said, no, he wanted to go, no pain etc. his BP was about the same, but it came down shortly after so we went and he was fine. He isn't one to complain but I it makes me wonder whether he's telling me when he has pain just cause he doesn't want to call the doctor or go in, but I realize he's a grownup and I have to leave it to him to complain unless I can obviously tell.

We also went to Costco as dh wanted to buy coffee, and we had lunch there. I got the chili but didn't eat it all and I didn't get any samples. I felt pretty good yesterday, but today I'm having the full uncomfortable, somewhat painful feeling just below my diaphragm again...hasn't moved lower...some tightness but not too bad...and nothing much looks good to me when I feel that. My dd who sells LulaRoe clothing gave me a pair of Valentine leggings. She said if they don't fit wear them for PJs. I don't think she realizes how big my belly is and how much I sweat at night. I prefer short sleeved, knee length or just below knee nightgowns these days. The leggings are very cute and so nice to touch. I'll try them again on one of my not so bloated days. I would love to support her by buying her clothing and hope one day I can.

Carol Sue - A new car!! So happy for you...try not to worry too much, it will work out. Our first new car (1965) was a Chevy Impala and it was a very good car. Of course then they were very long, and have changed a lot that way, thank goodness, I wouldn't want to drive that big boat of a car anymore! It was black with black interior...and we got to choose the colors as we ordered it. Probably not the best deal but what did we know at that age.

Glynne - I agree with you about fixing up the house to enjoy not just for the next owners. that's why we are trying to do it now before that time comes and hopefully we will have time to enjoy it. We don't know that we will move either...sometimes we talk about it...but dh won't make the decision. If we are going to move it would be better to do it now in my opinion so we can do it together however could we sell our house and get one with out going into debt..I'm doubtful, if we don't fix it up. So we are fixing it up with the intent of living in it as long as we can and then either we or the kids will probably sell it at some point. Perhaps we will just stay here and hire someone to tend the yards...at this point dh won't even decide to do that. Well perhaps it's not time. As long as he can do the basics at least, perhaps that's enough. Our sons are nearby now so they can help occasionally too although he hates waiting on them. Glad you got to visit with family. My dd (Portland) and I don't talk as much as I'd like, she is so busy, and sadly I feel a distance growing between us simply because of that. I really enjoyed our long talks we used to have. It was great to see them and the kids today though.

Karrine - I forgot to mention we also have two grape vines too. Our oldest son (the one who was living with us) gave them to us. One is for wine and the other for eating. We have gotten grapes on the wine one but they are not ready for using yet. I haven't even looked at the other one...I don't get out much in the back yard unless it is warm/dry.

Beloved - What diet plan are you on? Sounds interesting that you have a nurse/coach. If you don't mind, share your plan with us, perhaps we can learn more about this dieting/health thing too. Love the idea of your book ministry thing. I have SO many books ...not sure I'll live long enough to read them all! I have piles and piles of hard copy books, then a huge amount of books on my phone and ipad. Also on my kindle but my kindle no longer works. Of course they are on Amazon too so I can always move them to another device. SO many books though!! Recently I have started a book that is about fitness/weightloss etc but also is devotional I'm also reading a book called "God Knows My Size" ...bought it from a lady who spoke to the women's group at my church a few years ago...finally started reading it. And I'm still reading the book I described a few days ago on my phone. I usually have three or four books going at the same time. I have a couple others I read from time to time ...one is a Christian book I started many years ago but never completely finished it..not sure why as it's a really good book, and the other is one on decision making. It's kind of boring but I'd still like to finish it.

Well need to get started with dinner soon...if dh is even hungry...with this big full belly I'm really not but will start snacking anyway if I don't cook soon.

Sandy - how are you doing..hows the asthma?

Good morning everyone,
Well it is finally here.....Super Bowl Game. I'm hoping Denver wins but from what I hear the Steelers have a better team with practically no loses. I wish the game would start earlier though than 6 pm my time. There must be lots of money out there as the average price for a ticket is almost $5,000. I think I might be doing a little snacking tonight watching the game but will try to restrict myself as much as possible.

Gayle - I have been here for a little over 30 years now and have enjoyed all the upgrades I have put into my place but I know that most people fix up there place for resale (at least painting and shampooing). Curb appeal is also very important in order to get some extra $$$. I don't blame you for not wanting to put anymore capital into your place if you think you might move....I'm not going to do anymore either.

Carol - how wonderful that you purchased a new 2015 Impala car. I don't know what I am going to do if I need another car as I really can't afford car payments. I'm driving a 2002 Toyota Camry but it only has 130,000 km. on it and it should be good for at least 250,000 km. I only put on about 7 or 8 thousand km. a year and is still in very good condition as I keep it regularly maintained. I might have to purchase a set of new tires soon though.

Mary - I imagine your DH put a scare into you with his underarm pain. You never know at our age what things like that might mean. My father made grape wine every year which was a family tradition that we all got together every year to pull the grapes off the bushels of grapes that he bought. He had one of Seagrams old wine presses which is an antique. My niece now has that press.....she restored the old wood and has it in her rec room.

Have a good day everyone,
Karrine

Too funny....guess I don't know who the other team is playing against Denver....smart me. It's the Panthers.....I think? I've never seen them play.
ROFL....sorry.

The more I thought about the car payment the less anxiety I'm feeling because I have a 401K that we never touch and I actually forget about it, and we can always fall back on that. We could have used it to pay cash for the car, but I would have been taxed taking that much money out at one time. DH and I are very dependent on each other for different things and I always worry about how the other will continue on after one if us is gone. I will not be able to do repairs and maintenance, and he will not be able to do the financial things or manage his meds and either of us will have our income cut in half. Whatever.

Mary, I hope DH is ok. Underarm pain can be caused by a few different things. I would always think lymph node infection, but I don't know why he would have high blood pressure with it.

Karrine, unfortunately the Steeler's aren't playing today. LOL I am not familiar with the Carolina Panthers but they are good.

Gayle, I strongly agree with you about fixing up the house for yourself to enjoy, not for the next owner. Our house probably won't be sold until we are gone, or if one of us is gone. It's not terrible, it's livable, but whoever buys it might want to make changes. Many people will come in and change things like carpet colors even if the carpet is new. Ours would just be priced accordingly. My BIL and SIL bought a 100 year old home for $9K. It took them 3 years to get it in condition so they could live in it and then it was paid off and they lived in it for 20 years. For whatever reason, they never replaced the old single pane windows. We have very cold winters here and they lived her all that time with those windows. Their heating bills were outrageous and the house always felt cold and drafty. When they decided to sell the house, they put new windows in. I asked why they were putting new windows in for someone else and they replied that they didn't think the house would sell with those old windows. They didn't seem to understand that they would have saved a lot in heating bills over all those years. Now they live in a brand new home in Las Vegas. They went from one extreme to the other.

I bought a turkey breast and decided to try cooking it in the slow cooker. I put in on around 10. A recipe I found online said it should cook for 5-6 hours, but it's getting close to done. I'm a little disappointed because it didn't brown like it does in the oven. I never thought about that, but I think it's going to be very moist instead of dried out. I might put it in the oven for a short while to let it brown, I don't know. It doesn't HAVE to be brown, it just looks prettier when it is.

We didn't get to church this morning..I didn't sleep well and dh was also tired so we stayed home and slept til almost noon. Last night dh shut the bedroom door as Halo kept coming in and I strained to hear her all night I think...didn't want to wake up to a mess. Silly me, to let it keep me awake. :dizzy: The kids are coming over to watch the game with us and bringing their own snacks but dh just went for some snacks he wanted.

Carol Sue - Glad you feel better about the car. I'd like to get dh a small pickup to replace our old Escort, which he calls his fishing car but uses much more than that. We know it's silly to keep putting money into repairs on it, and if anything big comes up we probably will not do it but so far it hasn't cost us too much each time. We don't do payments and I am saving but not really for a pickup. There are too many things we need for the house.

Infected Lymph nodes can usually be felt and also from my experience with myself and others the pain is different. Dh has had chest pain before thats why he has an ongoing prescription for Nitro. Plus If it were another kind of pain, I doubt it would be relieved by Nitro. Nitro works by opening up the blood vessels to deliver more oxygen. So I feel pretty sure it was his heart. He hasn't had any more ...again, typical of angina...it often comes and goes, can go away on it's own and is relieved by nitro...until it's not.

I'm glad we got new windows...they make the house more comfortable. Couldn't tell any difference in our gas or electric bills though. Just recently our gas bill fell by almost half, but suspect that was because last year's winter and spring were so mild. Now with the new better fitting door, it should be even better. Dh finally reached the door guy and has an appt to talk with him and hopefully set a time to finish the work. The work he'll be doing is just for looks but for the money we paid we expect it to be done.

We won't sell unless we can sell it for enough to find another place without payments. We have thought about renting it...and making payments on another place with the rental income, but I'm not daring enough for that I guess, plus don't want the hassles that renters can bring.

Good morning everyone

Here we are at the start of another week. I lost 1 lb. last week and I'm happy with that seeing as how I had extra treats. I'm glad Denver won last night and I think Manning will decide to retire now.

Carol - it is good to know that you are financially covered re car payments should anything bad happen.

Mary Rental income sure is a hassle not only interviewing for good people but keeping records for the tax man. My daughter has been renting her former house for about 7 years now and she sure is lucky to have a wonderful long term rental family who are thinking about buying it from her.

Have a good day everyone,
Karrine

Good morning! I went to bed late but had no trouble getting up this morning. The sun is shining, looks like a beautiful day. Dh just left to go fishing. I have a lot of things to do today so we skipped the gym but I hope to get in some exercise here at home. Yesterday was a big day...the kids were here (2 fam) to "watch" the Super Bowl. Actually there were only 1-4 actually watching at anyone time. Most of us are not that interested. I caught a little now and then and saw the end. We had venison steak (from our sons recent kill) and it was very good and tender...tasted like beef to me. I sauteed some zucchini as my dil wanted it, and she made biscuits (from the can). It all tasted very good despite the fact we'd all been snacking on chips/dip, later dh brought out his little sausages which he heats in BBQ sauce. I ate quite a lot of chips and dip but only small bits of other things. My son posted a pic of me in the kitchen cooking and I hate it...my belly is HUGE! Oh well, it's the truth..if that's not incentive to diet I don't know what is!

I stayed up late last night setting up a Cozi Calendar. I usually use Google but this works well with Flylady who I use for my housework schedule. It auto loads the tasks into the calendar. I could never get them quite right in Google. It also has a phone app and seems to syn well. I had tried it before and wasn't too impressed, but it seems they've improved it.

Karrine - Congrats on another pound lost!! You are doing well. I'd be very happy to lose a pound a week.

Mary I read about Joe's pain and how scary that must have been. Glad you had nitro. I agree on the Super Bowl. It was on and I was reading a book by the second quarter. Actually rooting for Carolina, we've watched Cam Newton the quarter back even in college. Also saw Payton in college, but this time Cam was one I was rooting for.

CarolSue Your new car sounds good. Did you get a couple years warrenty with the car, too? We did almost 3 years ago and just having this time without repairs has been such a blessing. Wanted to take the car payment and keep paying that into savings for the next car or repairs whichever comes first.

Like you, I do the financial part of our marriage, and do worry about how he will manage when I no longer am able to. He does so much of the outdoor work and loves doing it. I enjoy it when air is not so cold, and in a couple of months I'll be out playing in the mud.

Karrine, our daughter is looking for a place to use as rental property. In the past she had very good luck, but when she moved back east to be closer to us, she is in a different culture. I hope she is as lucky if she finds a place that suits her to rent out. Seems like a lot of work and small return on the investment unless she finds good stable renters.

I've really fallen away from intent to lose weight. Yesterday I binged on candy and felt terrible. Resolving to avoid sweets thru Lent, and am glad it begins this Wednesday.

DH and I had a really special time with friends at the Marti Gras Pancake breakfast before Church yesterday. We were there by 10:00 am and not only enjoyed delicious food, but met some new people, one who has not been here very long and is a young Veterinarian. We don't have a dog, but if we did I'd like Kate to take care of it.

Sandy

Mary, you would have a field day with our new car. The sales woman set my phone up to sync with the car. I can lock and unlock the car from my phone, and even start it with the remote start. If someone calls me in the car it goes over the bluetooth in the car. I don't want that, so I have the bluetooth shut off in the car. I called our son to see how it sounded and I didn't like it. You can also bring up a keyboard on the screen to text. I thought texting while driving was illegal? LOL It would be great for someone who spends a lot of time driving and has to have phone calls while driving, but that's not me. Most of the time DH is driving and I can just answer my phone, and usually it's only DH who calls me. Things keep beeping and icons keep showing up on the instrument panel and we have to look it up to see what it is. I told my friend that I think this car will sing God Bless America on the 4th of July. LOL

I have nitro to take if I have chest pains, but I rarely use it. The one time I went to the ER when I ended up needing heart surgery the doctor who was filling in for my PCP scolded me because I came to the ER instead of taking nitro. He said you were supposed to take 3 nitro before you seek medical attention. I felt pretty sure that what I was having was an emergency and I felt more comfortable heading to the ER. My body, my choice.

I have decided that I am going to start exercising every day, doing some weights even, and getting my legs, arms and core strengthened so I don't lose my mobility, even if I don't lose weight. Wonder how long it's going to take me to shuck that plan?