Good morning everyone. It is going to be another slightly cool day then we will zoom back into the 80's and probably stay there.
I am going to tackle the upstairs bathrooms today I think. I am a bit behind on everything and want to get my sewing caught up including hemming the pj pants and then go the end of the week and get my nails done.
We watched around 6 innings of baseball then Jack went upstairs and I went to bed. I am still not sleeping well and just don't feel that great since the female stuff kicked in again. Ahh well it will pass.
Maggie: Glad you got your computer back. I tried the canned asparagus but didn't care for it. To each is own!
Jean: That's a lot of money not up to snuff. Hopefully everything will come out ok. I didn't even get to any of the ocean beaches last year because of the leg swelling so much. It looks like I may be in for some of that same thing this year. I noticed some swelling on my right leg. It is always something. Have fun just staying home today.
Good Afternoon! The sun is playing hide 'n seek this afternoon, but it's a nice day with just a breeze. I took my paperwork in to the hospital to make copies so I can be paid for the credit card charges and a department charge. It would be nice (for me) if they would do their paperwork when I do mine instead of weeks later. I've been hungry for potato salad and decided to make one when I got home. Bob was to help his farmer friend but they had a breakdown so he was home for lunch which I hadn't planned on. He's gone again, the kitchen is put back together, washer and dryer are both doing their jobs, and now I can sit for a few minutes. We are home tonight! In checking the calendar for next week we could go to Sioux City four times -- Maddy's band concert and three soccer games; think it will be the concert and two soccer games on the same night. Could go to Sioux Falls four different times -- Amanda's 40th "surprise" birthday party, Zowie's spring concert which is on Amanda's birthday, and two soccer games. Think we will be at the party and concert skipping soccer games. I hate to think what our gas bill is going to be this month!
"Gma," are you going to take more sewing classes? I'm glad you enjoy sewing. I hope you feel better as the day goes along. I hate nights when I don't sleep well; I think I was too tired last night or too hot/too cold because I remember looking at the clock several times. Thank you for starting the new thread.
The dryer is buzzing so need to fold towels and get the next load started. Enjoy the rest of your day!
Good morning to everyone. It is still quite cool when Jack leaves for work, but we have beautiful blue skies and sun so it will be a nice day today.
Jack is having daily trouble with the bad knee he had repaired several years ago. I am sure the dr is going to want to replace the whole knee. He is trying to hang on until after vacation next year, but I don't know if he can. He does so much better with ignoring pain than I do that's for sure. He came home in a lot of pain yesterday but said they were climbing up and down stairs and such a lot yesterday.
I am going upstairs and tackle bathrooms this morning. I am still not feeling great but the work has to get done so I have to just ignore it for the time being and work through it I guess.
I bought Alicia the cutest weekend bag from Vera Bradley. They go to a lot of weekend concerts and thought this would be just the thing. It is sort of a neon yellow/green called citron and black and white flowers. I bought it on sale for her birthday, which is in July.
Jean: Wow you have a lot of traveling in the next month. I am sure it can be tough when you have to drive an hour each time you want to visit or be with the kids. I don't know if we will take the 301 class or not, but right now Kelly is too busy to do it. They are going on a cruise the end of the week and she has some traveling she has to do and when Tom and Thomas are gone for the camping thing for scouts she is going to Indiana for awhile. So it might be fall before we do anything as we are going to be gone in June. I enjoy it, but I can't say I'm real comfortable with it yet. I am sure that will come. It isn't really the sewing part that gets me, but understanding patterns and cutting them and piecing them, etc and not screwing them up.
I guess I should get going and start my day. I have a load of clothes in the washer and want to get upstairs after breakfast. Have a nice middle of the week.
Good Afternoon! It's another nice sunny, NO wind, warm day in my neighborhood. I had a hair cut first thing this morning and have been putzing ever since. Bob has been in and out. There is drama going on in the office and he is steering clear of that. He has been picking up seed corn (corn seed?) for his farmer friend, Rich, when he calls, so he can keep planting. We have the dinner at the hospital tonight so our clothes are ironed and ready for that. I should vacuum the fur hunks that are floating around, then again maybe not. There is always tomorrow!
"Gma," I hope Jack's knee won't give him too much trouble. The problem is that it most likely won't get any better but maybe manageable. Actually, soccer should be over by the middle of May. It just seems like everything piled up in a short amount of time. Here is what is really stupid. There are four small towns within 5-15 miles of us. We have a public high school and a Catholic high school plus the college. Of the six high schools, five are having graduation on the same day and at the same time. There are many families who live within a 45 mile circle that have relatives in different school districts. Kolby and Zowie, plus a cousin of Zowie's who lives close will all graduate the same year. The larger schools seem to choose a week night for graduation while smaller ones pick Sunday.
Guess I had better drag the vacuum out and chase the fur. I am doing cat chores this weekend for a cat on the other side of the lake. I see her when we play cards and she has the softest fur, almost like a rabbit. Hope you are enjoying a wonderful Wednesday! April is just about history.
Good morning all. Temps are coming back up to normal and warming up nicely again. Hopefully they will stay there now. I know it is still very cold in Indiana so I sure hope by June we have warm weather. I don't have any dressier clothing that is for cold weather to wear to the alumni banquet if it isn't warm.
I am going to do the upstairs vacuuming and dusting today and maybe go get my nails done tomorrow. It depends on how I feel. I haven't been sleeping well, I have gained weight again from the female stuff, which makes it a struggle plus is frustrating for me emotionally and the female stuff causes its own discomfort. I haven't felt like sewing or knitting this week at all.
Jack got part of his new work tshirts, but they raised the price and the quality is crummy. I imagine we will have to buy them more often now. Jack likes wearing the short sleeved and long sleeved tshirts instead of the uniform button downs. He says they are more comfortable. They provide the button downs and pants, but we have to buy the pocket printed tshirts if he wants to wear them. They are still allowable as they have the city emblem on them, but we have to pay for them. He wears them until they are disgraceful though I tell him to buy more. The old one have holes and stains on them and all he says is that they are for work. Ahh well what can I do? He got colors this time instead of white ones. I think he got a red one, orange one and gray one, then because they didn't have the other two colors he picked he reordered a couple more colors.
I am assuming the night manager for that hotel we stayed at did cancel our charges because I haven't gotten a bill on my credit card for it. I noticed that if you give the hotel a good review on trip advisor the general manager gushes all over you, but if you say anything critical she ignores you instead of addressing it. I definitely would never recommend this hotel to anyone after what we went through. I mean, why wouldn't the housekeeper notice the room reeked of smoke and notify the management and they in turn wouldn't rent the room? My take is they knew and because of the NBA playoffs going on wanted a full house so they rented it knowing it stuck to high heavens in the room. Even the linens smelled.
Jean: Going to be interesting for you when it comes time for graduation I guess. I wonder why they would do that too? We sure are whizzing right through spring. Hope Bob doesn't have to get in the middle of whatever is going on in his office. They can be brutal. I now when something went down at the law firm or at the mechanical company it made things a real mess because people took sides, etc.
Good evening Magnolias. We had a nice day here in the ♥-Land and are supposed to have another like it tomorrow, Tomorrow starts a new month already ~ it sure seems that this year is passing quickly.
Sad thing ~ Ragg Mopp had his last day yesterday and we took him to the vet and he will take care of his body. Needless to say I am very sad for his passing but the vet said he was surprised that dog lived that long. Little Beanie was looking for him today which was kinda sad. We have found a place for Cecil when we leave. He is such a loner and isn’t hard to take care of at all if a person doesn’t want a lap cat. After his full day of hunting in the back yard he comes into my office to check in, get his head scratched, eats a bit of food and then strolls out. I can hear him exit the house through the doggie door. Animals ~ after Beanie goes we aren’t getting anymore pets.
We have plans to go to the range tomorrow and I can sight in my 22 rifle Will got me for my Birthday, It has a new scope on it that needs to be adjusted. The last scope had something wrong inside and wouldn’t set properly. For instance to hit the bulls eye you would have to adjust about 3 feet over to where the cross hairs showed it. Frustrating to say the least. It is going back to the factory.
JEAN It sure makes it hard on the parents if they want to see others graduate also besides their own having them all at the same time.
DONNA FAYE I would sure like to hire you to come clean this house when we move out, but alas you live too far. There is a gal here that does it for a living and we will get her to do it though.
Good morning to you all. It is still cool this am but going to be nice all weekend.
We are going to Nashville this weekend on a little relax and shopping excursion. I am looking forward to just hanging out and shopping, swimming, etc. Jack is working today then will quickly clean up at work and we will head out this afternoon.
Kelly and Tom are on their way to NYC to leave on a cruise tomorrow to Bermuda. I am sure they are looking forward to it.
Maggie: So sorry you lost little Ragg Mopp. It is always tough to lose a pet.
Good Afternoon! We got up to rain drops this morning but now the sun is shining. We have been having trouble with our TV picture freezing and/or no sound. The cable company has changed owners again; when I called a real person answered the phone. She wanted to know everything but my blood type, and then said she would pass my message along so a tech person could call me back. After two hours I called back -- same story. The next day I sent a not-so-nice email to their website and a rep called shortly after. He decided we needed a new box and we could exchange it or wait for a repairman to bring one to us. Bob has done it before so that is what we agreed to do. Local office was closed yesterday! Bob again disconnected it this morning and took off about 8:30 because that is the time painted on the door. Hand written note on the door says 9:30 today so he goes on to work. Picks up the new box and brings it home at noon. There is a different cable this time, and the remote, TV, and box won't "talk" to each other. This time Bob calls tech support and the guy walks him through the process. Come to find out the serial number was different between the box and the cable company. He got the TV to work and guess what . . . the picture is still freezing although not as often nor for as long. Frustrating! In a little while I have to go balance out the gift shop for the week, and do cat chores.
"Gma," long story, short version is that Bob's secretary has been there for 40+ years and thinks she is "the boss." She actually works for the federation but answers the phone for the agents. They pay part of her salary but since she has been cut back to a three day work week, she refuses to do anything beyond answering the phone. She had a knee replaced and has had trouble with the leg swelling ever since. The cancer doctor said that could be a result of the chemo. The pain has gotten so bad she is back to using a walker. Went back to the orthopedic surgeon and the X-ray showed the pin going into the bone is off center so she was to get a new knee. He wanted to do it ASAP because he was afraid the bone could break and he is worried that there may be some infection. If there is any infection, no knee, and she would be on IV antibiotics until it's gone -- could be months. She was set for surgery and her heart began to beat irregularly so no surgery. Now she has to see a cardiologist. Meanwhile she made no provisions for anyone to do her job, nor did her federation boss. Lots of hard feelings and negative vibes there right now. Have a nice weekend away -- sounds like fun!
Maggie, I am so sorry about Ragg Mop. How old was he? It seems like you just got him. Have fun at the shooting range. I hope your scope will work properly.
Hard to believe it is May. We had to explain to Maddy and Kolby what a May basket is. How sad is that? I have laundry to put away before I leave. Hope you all are enjoying a nice day!
Good Morning! It's a beautiful sunny morning in my neighborhood with just a breeze blowing. I have sheets in the washer and have been to the bank to deposit the gift shop money. When I count the money in each daily envelope I check it against the total written on the daily sheet. Then when I'm ready to fill in the deposit book I always compare the actual cash and checks with the totals on my weekly sheet. Our bank has all of the employees take turns working on Saturday morning, and I have never seen the gal at my window in the main bank so assume she works "behind the scene" somewhere. Anyhow, she said I had too much change and gave it back to me. When I got home I double checked all my figures and then had Bob do it again. We both think I was right in the first place and the teller will be short when she balances. Of course there is no phone number for the drive through, so I will have to call the main bank on Monday. The fur bunnies are multiplying by the minute and Sonny wants the deck door open. He is "talking" a blue streak to the squirrels and birds.
I need to drag out the vacuum and corral the flying fur. Enjoy a special Saturday!
Good Morning! It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood with sunshine and a breeze. The birds are chirping up a storm in the back yard. When I opened the door earlier a squirrel was sitting in the tree scolding something. I put some food out and he made a mad dash to the deck. He must have been scolding me. Bob is at the farm doing chores and checking on the planter. I need to do my cat chores after lunch and pick up the clutter. I know we have more now than when the kids were home. I must not be as diligent in my "senior" years.
I need to dream up something for lunch. Have leftover grilled steak from yesterday and a salad maybe. Bob picked them up and thought he got two for $10.59. Come to find out that was the price per steak! LOL Enjoy a super Sunday!
Good morning to you all. It stayed warm last night and going to be in the 80's all week this week so we are warming into summer temps. It's about time.
We had a great time in Nashville. I bought a crossbody bag to have when we shop or excursions, stuff like that when I don't want to carry my regular handbag all the time. I had to buy a pair of sandals as the ones I had were pulling away from the sole for some reason. I bought a pair of Skechers with the memory foam so they were comfortable to wear in the mall. Jack bought himself a new pair of shorts and shirt at the IZOD store and we bought a couple new skillets and Jack got a huge new Keurig that he can put his coffee mug under. We saved close to $200 on stuff all together. This is a huge outlet mall. We walked around for 3 hours, sitting occasionally. When I had gotten too tired, I sat and Jack went back and got the car then I walked through Bass Pro Shops as it had an outdoor entrance and met him about halfway through the store and we went back to the hotel.
You are not going to believe this. First off, I found a lovely hotel with a great price. It was about 20 miles from the outlet mall, but it is in Franklin/Cool Springs and there is a big mall there and lots and lots of restaurants and shopping etc. It was a beautiful Courtyard with a gorgeous lobby and our room was large with a sofa bed, fridge, etc and this huge armoire to hang up your clothes and such. The bathroom was large and the tub had two hand holds and the bottom had a no slip grip so I didn't have to put a hand towel down in it to shower. Well, they had one of those crappy low flow toilets and the first day it backed up!! Shades of home. We were heading out to go shopping but they sent someone up right away to fix it. It seemed to be ok the rest of the trip, but the thing was weird.
We went swimming on Saturday afternoon after coming back from the mall. We had the pool all to ourselves, but Jack likes bath water pools and for him it was cold. It was pretty cool so we only stayed around 20 minutes or so. It took him that long to get into the water all the way. I always go for it right away as I think tippy toeing into the water makes it worse if it is chilly.
I splurged for breakfast one morning and had this thing called Parisian Benedict. I love eggs Benedict and this was a croissant instead of an English muffin and had smoked ham instead of Canadian bacon. It had Portobello mushroom and swiss cheese on the ham, which isn't on regular Benedict, then the two poached eggs with the hollandaise sauce over it all. They had these potatoes with it that were seasoned with ranch seasoning (not dressing but the powdered stuff) but I am not really a potato eater. It was delicious though. I figured I walked off a lot of it in that mall. We combined lunch and dinner each day and ate pretty much in between in early afternoon.
Back to life now and mounds of laundry. I finished it all up yesterday but have to fold the towels that were up in the basket in the bedroom when we left. I just started them last night and figured I could fold them this morning. We will do all the put away this evening after dinner. I think I will make a meat loaf for dinner.
Jean: Gosh who is gonna answer phones when the guys are all out on the road so to speak? They didn't plan that well for sure. I found out on Friday my sister has to have a hysterectomy this week. They tried to do the ablation thing on her like they tried on me, but it wouldn't work either so her doctor wants to take it out right away. She has more issues than I though so her insurance will pay for it. She is going to be out of work for awhile though and she is now the breadwinner, works for a small law firm and has no more paid time off so don't know how they are going to handle that as they sure need her income. It is irritating when things don't work over and over. I have to say we have had Direct tv for 14 years and have had little trouble with it except of course it can go out with storms, but we understand that. We have both HD receiver and regular one, but eventually we will just move the tv downstairs into our bedroom and get a new one for downstairs and then get another HD box for the upstairs tv and they will both be HD. With me not being able to sleep in the bed, the upstairs tv doesn't get watched much. We get the adjustable bed and then we will change everything out.
Good Afternoon! It's a cloudy cool day in my corner of the world. I went to the P.E.O. breakfast this morning. It was catered and she served the egg casserole, fresh fruit, and a berry muffin. I thought the muffin was dry so I picked out the big pieces of fruit and left the rest. Then I made a WM run and stopped to do the cat chores. Her "mom" is coming home today. Snoopy must have been bored because she had several kitchen cupboard doors open. We will be leaving for Zowie's concert as soon as Bob gets home.
Our excitement for the day was Bob ran over his billfold with the lawn mower! Somehow it fell out of his pocket and he didn't realize it. He had just cashed a check so all of the bills, driver's license, credit cards, membership cards, etc. are history. His Medicare card and insurance license survived somehow. So we matched serial numbers on the bills, they were all cut in half so paper clipped the halves together, and he headed to the bank. His billfold was shredded but his driver's has part of his head cut off so will have to get a new one. I'm just glad he saw it after the fact. I have visions of the wind blowing pieces of paper money and plastic every which way.
"Gma," I'm glad you enjoyed your weekend away. That is too funny about the toilet -- not really. I hope your sister's surgery goes ok. I was back subbing after three weeks, but was able to sit most of the time and only went to the high school. We were comparing cable costs at lunch bunch and one gal said their bill was $225 a month. They have two HD boxes and lots of sports channels, also bundle phone and Internet. Our's is $125 for one box, expanded basic, phone, and Internet. The company was sold again so I wouldn't be surprised to see the rates go up again. Everything is going up!
I have towels in the dryer and they should be done. Enjoy the rest of your day!
Good morning to you all. It is pretty toasty this morning. It didn't cool off much last night and should be a beautiful day again today.
I got all our trip stuff and all that laundry put away so will tackle the dusting and vacuuming upstairs today. It will then be time to start on the downstairs again. This weekend is commissary weekend and I think that Saturday we are going to go to this local butcher shop everyone raves about and try it instead of meat from the commissary. I am tired of going and finding that part of the stuff you need isn't there. I know sooner or later that they will close the darn thing then we will be stuck. We can afford groceries in town I guess but I hate the stores we have. It is either Kroger or Walmart and neither of them is great.
Balanced the checkbook this morning of all the trip charges that have come through. Still waiting for the hotel bill to go through on the credit card though.
Jean: Jack and I got a good laugh about the wallet, but truly that is awful. At least the money wasn't shredded to pieces. Right now we pay $175 for Direct tv and part of that is the MLB extra innings so we can watch the Cubs play. In September it will go back to $140 and we have their premium package, no movie channels except I think Starz, which we don't watch anyway and we have a sports package attached. Our internet bill is through ATT and is $40 a month, but in Sept it will go up to $54. I changed our cell phone coverage and hopefully it will cut that bill in half as we were paying $208 a month and this is supposed to be better overall and $100 less. Haven't gotten the first bill yet though it should come out anytime.
Good Morning! It's a cool rainy morning in my neighborhood. I'm hoping for enough rain to cancel soccer games tonight. I can't get excited to wear "concert" clothes to a soccer game in icky weather. Obviously someone didn't check the school calendar when they scheduled the games. Zowie's makeup game is tonight and a regular game is Thursday, but we will miss both since we are going back up there on Saturday. I've been to church and counted money, now need to make a grocery list and head to the store after lunch.
"Gma," it's not as much fun putting trip stuff away as getting ready to go. You are one organized lady! I always think of you when I need to dust and vacuum. I need to wash fan lights and I can never get all the screws back in, so will wait until Bob is around. I have the same problem with our two grocery stores. I will pick up a thing or two if I happen to be in WM but never go there to specifically grocery shop. They are not always cheaper here. Can you bundle with Direct TV? My neighbor is thinking about switching, but she also talks about TIVO, which I know nothing about. It's frustrating, to me, to try and figure out which is the best deal. It seems as soon as we switch to something else, we like what we had better.
Not much else is newsy from Iowa today. Hope you all have a terrific Tuesday and enjoy!
Good morning to you all. Going to be steamy all this week but mostly sunny, which I will take.
I think I am going to finish up Thomas's pj pants by putting the hem in the legs today. I need to get those other three potholders finished too. It depends on how hot it gets today I think. So far, we haven't had an issue with the heat in the house.
I paid the bills and have a load of laundry in the dryer and will figure out some breakfast when I get done here.
Jean: it has to be tough to coordinate all the kids goings on. Since I have only two and one doesn't live down here, I never have that issue. We have been having a lot of high schools here having fights. I noticed there was a third one in the last couple weeks. Of course they are you know what in all of them. I swear for people who think they are so put upon, they sure do make a lot of trouble. Has Bob been able to recoup all his damaged stuff from his wallet. Lesson learned, leave your wallet in the house when mowing. We used to be able to bundle our internet with Direct tv but they no longer do that for some reason. They went to that uverse thing so maybe that is why, who knows? We didn't save much when we did have it.
Steel Magnolias #110
Thank you for starting the new thread.
Last Day of April
After two hours I called back -- same story. The next day I sent a not-so-nice email to their website and a rep called shortly after. He decided we needed a new box and we could exchange it or wait for a repairman to bring one to us. Bob has done it before so that is what we agreed to do. Local office was closed yesterday! 
Bob again disconnected it this morning and took off about 8:30 because that is the time painted on the door. Hand written note on the door says 9:30 today so he goes on to work. Picks up the new box and brings it home at noon. There is a different cable this time, and the remote, TV, and box won't "talk" to each other. This time Bob calls tech support and the guy walks him through the process. Come to find out the serial number was different between the box and the cable company. He got the TV to work and guess what . . . the picture is still freezing although not as often nor for as long. Frustrating! In a little while I have to go balance out the gift shop for the week, and do cat chores.
Bob is at the farm doing chores and checking on the planter. I need to do my cat chores after lunch and pick up the clutter. I know we have more now than when the kids were home. I must not be as diligent in my "senior" years.
We were heading out to go shopping but they sent someone up right away to fix it. It seemed to be ok the rest of the trip, but the thing was weird.
That is too funny about the toilet -- not really. I hope your sister's surgery goes ok. I was back subbing after three weeks, but was able to sit most of the time and only went to the high school. We were comparing cable costs at lunch bunch and one gal said their bill was $225 a month. They have two HD boxes and lots of sports channels, also bundle phone and Internet. Our's is $125 for one box, expanded basic, phone, and Internet. The company was sold again so I wouldn't be surprised to see the rates go up again. Everything is going up!
I need to wash fan lights and I can never get all the screws back in, so will wait until Bob is around. I have the same problem with our two grocery stores. I will pick up a thing or two if I happen to be in WM but never go there to specifically grocery shop. They are not always cheaper here. Can you bundle with Direct TV? My neighbor is thinking about switching, but she also talks about TIVO, which I know nothing about. It's frustrating, to me, to try and figure out which is the best deal. It seems as soon as we switch to something else, we like what we had better.