Beverlyjoy-I'm so sorry about your DH's jobYou will be in my thoughts and prayers. It'll be nice to have your grandson and his b-day. Having the little ones around just makes everyone feel better and more energized (until nap time, of course). Are there any options for your DH to go back to school? I know each state is different, but a couple years ago in MN, the state was paying for people who'd been laid off and receiving unemployment to go to college. We had a couple friends who were able to get new degrees and new jobs.

Good morning to everyone else too! We've got some sun this morning for a change and the weather guy said it could get to 38F today! Don't know whether to believe him, but it sure sounds nice. Probably need to go to town for a few items and might try to get some walking in at Walmart-pretty empty during the day, so there's lots of room to move! Hope you all have a great day!

Still snowing and blowing around here but not nearly as badly as yesterday. the sun has even peeked through a couple of times.

Made arrangements for a friend (and fellow Mod) from Ontario to come down for a little visit in mid-April. Wow . . . hope it stops snowing by then.

HI LADIES ~ we woke up to much colder temps this morning and the winds made it seem like it was like -30c out there, but today the sun slowly came through and the temps came all the way up to -5c. We have been so blessed with sunshine this month and it has brought our heat bills way down; we matched our November bill in February which is quite good really.

BEVERLYJOY ~ so sorry to hear that about your DH and his co-workers; seems every company is jumping on the cutback bandwagon: it's like a ripple effect ... you're laying off -- well then, so will I -- kinda thing! It's a shame really! I'm so glad to hear that he has UI and a severance package though; good idea to scale back right away; good for you taking progressive steps so soon!

As for the birdies, just give them about a 1/2 - 1 cup a day, each morning until spring or until you run out, they'll be OK; a lady told me this trick, they'll just go to other feeders more often, that's all. We didn't even use half our bags this year; so we are gonna seal them up really well and store them in our metal cans for next year. We use this method all the time now and cut our costs down to way less than half; and DH bought me the seed for a Christmas gift too (as I asked him for this as one of my gifts).

Yes, I agree with RONNI ~ can your DH take a short college or training course where you live? I heard a career counsellor once say that if you find yourselves short on cash, take a short course from 3 months to 1 year, as most people can get the funding for that, but not longer; and when you are done, you have a degree or certificate to get a better job in a much shorter time frame.

We will definitely be keeping you in our prayers that your DH and all the others being laid off will find something soon; whether it be another job, training or schooling, and/or a new career. You have a great attitude; trust GOD, and you know that He will carry you through ...

HI RONNI ~ good idea to go walking around that W-Mart; we do that here in our local department stores and our one, very large grocery store. DH ran some small errands for me today and I just stayed home and baked some oatmeal & cinnamon muffins for his snacks; plus did a few small housechores. We will be doing our weekly shopping later in the week. Good tip that you shared with BEVERLYJOY.

HIYA MEOWEE ~ hope you have better weather soon; and you have a nice visit with your Ontario MOD friend.

I am thinking of getting PEDOMETER to track how many steps I take in the day as a challenge for myself. I see that someone is starting a step-walking challenge in the exercise thread. I want to see how many I do a day now and hopefully increase my steps as a way to increase my daily activities. So I'm looking of a Pedometer this week in town; but if I can't find one, I know where I can order one too.

Well, I forgot to take something out for dinner tonight; but it will be something light like chicken or fish as we had pork chops last night with rice and veggies. We have lots of quick things in the freezer too like bangers, chicken pieces, fish, and such and a couple of casseroles so we will find something for sure.

HI to PURPLE, and NUMPSTER, and VALDINE ~ hope you girls all had a TERRIFIC TUESDAY!!!

Well, that's all the news from here for now; take good care ladies, and we hope that you have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY tomorrow ... ROSEBUD

Hi, Ladies! Well, yesterday didn't work out like I planned. DS3 got sick from his antibiotic and was throwing up. Fortunately, we weren't out of the driveway yet and were able to get him in the house and DS2 went on his own. So, no walking, not even on the treadmill, as it now quit working-arrrrgggghhh Might just be an adjustment issue, but i have to find the instruction book, which is not always easy to do here I'm learning to keep organized, but it's a slow process!

We've got ice on the roads this morning and more to come tomorrow, I guess, along with a couple inches of snow. Do you all think we could get a group rate on a trip to Arizona or Florida? It's Ash Wednesday-seems like it should be warming up a little, ya know! Surely, it'll stop by April for your friend to visit, Meowee!

Sure hope you all have a nice day!

HI LADIES ~ we've got lots of ***** out there today; mild temps though, but the winds are still blowing. We had lots of birdies here today: over four dozen (at one count) red-capped finches at our feeders, and there were some hiding in the trees too. Love watching them and their funny antics ...

We have been doing stuff around home today. DH got his trailer out today to get ready for going to our lot as soon as the roads are clear. I think he's a bit early, but he says he doesn't want it to get stuck in a flood of water or mud in the backyard come spring: he's got a point there.

RONNI ~ that trip to Florida sounds inviting, but with blood pressure problems and blood clot problems, planes are out for me, I'm afraid. I'd have to drive or take a very, very long train ride. Well, we can always dream, can't we?

Sorry to hear your DS3 is so sick yet; yah, antibiotics are hard on the stomach (been there). Hope he is feeling better real soon. Hope you figure out your treadmill problem ... mine is confined to the shed right now. I've decided to keep it though, and maybe some day I'll be able to walk well enough to use it.

Right now, I walk at a snails pace and with a cane, to boot! They all make it look so easy when walking on those treadmills; it's harder than it looks. I have to master the ground first! I'm gonna try counting steps, for now.

HI to MEOWEE, and PURPLE, and BEVERLYJOY, and VAL, and NUMPSTER ~ hope all you ladies have a THUNDEROUS THURSDAY!!! HeHe ...


We had spagetti & meataballs for dinner tonight; yummy! Time to go have my tea now and put my tired, sore legs up for awhile; so, take good care ladies, and have a great evening ... ROSEBUD

Good Morning! Things went much better yesterday. Ds3 feeling better-new antibiotic seems to be working better and no vomiting-thank goodness. My poor kids have learned that it's better to not let me see them be sick, as I always just end up joining them and that makes everyone feel worse I'm such a wimp! DH and I even had an agreement when they were babies that I did all the diapers and he'd do all the upset stomaches, as he can't handle those stinky diapers and I can't handle the other stuffIt worked out well!

Rosebud-I don't fly either-we drive everywhere-that's why it always takes us 3 days to get to Idaho I'm also finding the treadmill difficult (of course, only when it's working-it's really easy to use when it's not running) Walking on the treadmill makes my back and hips ache later, but walking in a store or outside doesn't Soon, it'll be warm enough to be outside and I won't worry about it until next winter.

Hope you are all having a great day! Hi Val, Numpster, Meowee, Purple, and Beverlyjoy! for you all!

Good Morning . . .

Yesterday was definitely NOT an OP day . . . got force-fed two birthday meals -- definitely food porn time. One more special lunch to go today and then, hopefully, I get my act back together.

Weather was great yesterday -- lots of sunshine and above freezing temperatures. One down note though . . . I treated myself to a car wash and because the roads were wet from the mild temperatures, the clean look lasted about 12 minutes. Today there will be more of the same and it's supposed to get even warmer (+5C/41F).

Finally got that new book, I mentioned and after reading the instructions, and studying the detailed pictures, twice, I still have almost no idea how I'll ever be able to knit two socks at once on one long circular needle. Guess I'm going to have to get out some scrap yarn and give it a try.

Have a great day everybody . . . hope your weather is as nice as mine.

Hi chicks - I've had two jobs today. DH is helping me and we could use the door in the back - so I didn't have to use the wheelchair for distance walking. I am happy about that.

DH's job fair went well. There was anything that pertained to his skills. He got some ideas for doing his resume. He's very positive about it all. I am hanging in fairly well, considering I am a professional worrier. He's 57 - so I think he's going to try and find something in his field before looking into job training. But, he's not opposed to it either. They replaced him with a 32 year old who will get paid 1/3 of what he was making. Hmmm...age discrimination... (companies save anyway they can)

Today my family is coming from out of town. It's my grandson second birthday. A party has been planned for all of the family. It was planned long before the job thing...so we will carry on. It will be wonderful!!!!

Thanks for all your kind thoughts and wishes. It means alot.

I've done my stretches, stregthening exercises, heat and ice. I'll ice and heat one when I get home.. I've done one meditation and will try to get another one in.

My goal is to eat mindfully and slowly and to make good choices. NO standing up and eating. Put the fork down between bites. Leave a small portion on the plate.

Purple orc - I am so glad your PC is up and running. It's hard when the darn thing is on the fritz. Your scarf sounds lovely.

meoww- enjoy that nice weather.

ronnie - hope everyone's up and feeling well soon. DH is a puke wimp too. He can't handle it.- he gags, too.

justwanna - thanks for the good advice on the birdies. It's seems like a good way to make it last. I love hearing about your birdies. Mostly at my feeders (right at the huge kitchen window) are: gold finches, house finches, cardinals, dove, sparrows, carolina chickadee, and juncos. Also....the red tail hawk that lives in the woods near by. Grrrr....I hate having to witness the food chain. It's usually the mourning doves he gets.

Hi to NUMPSTER, and VALDINE - and anyone else I missed or stops by.

I can hardly wait - family will be here soon!!!!

HI LADIES ~ Firstly, I just have to say that I was laughing my butt off at some of the comments you ladies made today. You're all a bunch of comediennes, and you just don't know it yet!

We had a lovely day of sunshine even though there were some winds out there; it was so nice to have the sun again! Just did small housechores again today like dusting the floors and dusting, as we will likely go do a bit of shopping in the morning.

HI BEVERLYJOY ~ that's so nice that your DH was able to go with you and you did two programs today. I am also fortunate in that my DH helps me a lot too; it's a give and take thing as we each have our talents and skills to help each other with our limitations. Yes, I agree with your conclusions about your DH's company; we thought as much. It's becoming a little too handy these so-called recession lay-offs; I kept saying to my DH ... what recession; what recession? I don't see any recession here.

Oh sure, a few companies in specific areas are having temporary problems (albeit some are fixable if the banks would start giving loans again; and there was some protection from price gauging homeowners). Nothing that couldn't eventually turn around though, with the right measures in place. We have had dips here and there in a cyclical way before; it's always been that way and always will be; we have to ride them out and help each other out. Oops sorry, didn't mean to rant there! Haha ...

Hope you all have a smash-up bang (slang for a very good time) at your grandson's 2nd birthday:

At the last place we lived in the country, we had lots of kinds of birds; some miss us and keep passing by: so far that we've seen, we've had a few woodpeckers, one starling, a few wrens, lots of chickadees, and dozens of different finches (purple and red ones). I have seen some red (male) grosbeaks but they keep missing our feeders as they are somewhat hidden by the giant fur trees here. I told DH that I'm gonna hang strips of red material on each side of the fur tree next year to attract their attention so that they'll come by; it's worth trying.

HIYA PURPLE ~ gee, it's so nice to see you back here and read your cheery posts again. So glad that you got your PC up and running again; yah, really gotta save everything to make sure you don't lose anything. Good for you finishing that scarf; hey, even if it looks like something DR. WHO would wear, who cares? What matters is that your face is warm and safely covered.

to you MEOWEE !!! Glad you are having fun eating all the birthday food; just hope you don't pay for it too much later on ... portion control; portion control ... that'll save ya! Enjoy ...

HI RONNI ~ That was so funny about the treadmill; that's what I mean ... it looks really easy when someone else is using it; but when I'm on it, it's cruel to the back, and knees, if you fall down like I did. So for that infraction, mine is in jail for now: confined to the shed for an unspecified amount of time for a possible future use, or not?

Yah, we have only 4 weeks or less til we can all go walking down the roads and streets again; our dear PURPLE is having fab weather over there in the UK and can walk already. If I showed you the snowhill outside our kitchen window, you'd be aghast! Think I'll get DH to do a pose for me tomorrow and let you have a seesee ...

Well, I think I have rambled on long enough for tonight; time to go put my feet up and do a puzzle or two. Take good care ladies; and HI to VAL ~ TGIF ... and NUMPSTER ~ have a FABULOUS FRIDAY!!! ROSEBUD

Hi! Don't have much time to post, but wanted to say hi to you all!

Purple- Very glad your computer problem is fixed and I'm very jealous of your weather!

Meowee- Sorry it's late

Beverlyjoy-enjoy your family and the b-day party! Sounds like a lot of fun!

Rosebud-would love to see your snow mountain! We have one in the church's back yard next door that always floods our shed when it meltsbut I guess they have nowhere else to put the stuff when they plow.

Val-

Hope I didn't miss anyone. Have a really nice weekend!

HI LADIES ~ we woke up to another storm; two days in a row. Later on the sun came out and we waited til the winds calmed down a bit, and then went out to pick up a few groceries this afternoon, but it was still very cold out there.

RONNI ~ We are almost buried in snow: in the front, the snow has already reached the top of our deck and out back it is piled to the top of our neighbour's garage. (see pic below). It keeps rolling down the hill by our car; gee, when that melts we are gonna be flooded as their property slopes towards us.

Anyways, I also included a picture of our NIKO, looking so cute here. I tried to add in some pics of our flowers from last year to brighten things up, but they were still too big to fit in here. Will have to resize them and try again later. Gotta go get my feet up as they are very sore from the walking and the cold today.

PURPLE ~ yes, I asked DH for the bird seed as one of my Christmas gifts as I already have so much like you said; I have been sending boxes of stuff to goodwill as it is.

So I'm gonna go put my feet up and do some puzzles and read for awhile. HI to MEOWEE, and to VAL, and BEVERLYJOY,and NUMPSTER ... hope you all have a great weekend; and take good care ROSEBUD


Niko CU2w.JPG snow mountain 4w.JPG

Hi and good morning Ladies

Still remains grey and overcast but dry. Went for a walk yesterday with DH at about 6pm it was not too cold and I enjoyed the walk as I wasn't too cold. I have notice that next door neighbour has popped her washing out on the line this morning there is a little breeze but I am not sure how much it will dry out there today.

Tried the 3% fat milk the other day would not know the difference between that and the semi skimmed. So this milk is in between skimmed milk and semi skimmed. Just at the minute the price is a little dearer I am hoping as more people may use it and it will bring the cost down. Has I have told you things here in the UK are very pricey compared to the USA or Canada. Like a carton of cigarette (20 cigarettes here) is over $10 and diesel is nearly $2.00 a litre. Just a few examples of the price of things here.

Watched the final of masterchef yesterday. This is a competition of amateur cooks whom take part in this competition. As part of the competition they go to work in profession kitchens and do a lunch time service. So hence are given a bit more training so learn as they go along but still be part of the competition. They have to cook for the army on basic army rations on a pit fire and oven. They then have to do fine dining for the officer in the officer mess. I love seeing the process of the cooks grow and the two judges critique their food. I must admit they are nice to the contestants they will always try to find some element of the food to be nice about and well as give constructive criticism about the food. If the contestant goes through to the next round then they must try and iron out these errors. They cook in so many different settings and all to learn different skills from leadership to ironing out problems with their cooking.

RONNI Never think of anyone being jealous of our weather but now I see pictures and you are still in the depth of winter. We never get snow like that and can walk all year round. Not much difference between our winters and summers to be honest. We have temperatures on average about 10c and in the summer I would say about 25c. So on the flip side of the coin we do not have the warm summers you experience. Which I say I am very grateful for as I am like a wet dish rag in hot weather. I have no energy in summer when the temperature get too hot. Plus here air conditioning is not normally part of our homes as 90% of the time I suppose we never need them as it is not warm enough.

ROSEBUD. gosh it makes me feel cold just seeing the piles of snow that you still have. I just can't imagine having snow like that. Here's me with spring just around the corner with the flowering of crocuses and snowdrops in full bloom. I notice my daffodils now have a bud on them so it will not be many more weeks and they will be flowering also.

It must be a worrying time for you thinking about the thaw and the possibility of flooding. I hope and pray that is not the case for you and your DH.

Niko he looks as gorgeous as ever he doesn't half melt your heart with a face like that you can hardly tell him off when he has been naughty Rizzie if I am about to discipline him for something (not very often he is good really) well he either attempts to give me a sloppy lick or he does his party trick and puts both paws up and begs. Well when he does that I end up bursting out laughing I know he is as crafty as a barrel load of monkeys this one.

Hello to MEOWEE, and to VAL, BEVERLYJOY,and NUMPSTER ~ yeah the weekend is here I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend and recharge those batteries.

Time to go and wash the breakfast pots I am afraid. Oh for a bigger kitchen that I could fit in a dish washer Well that is only a pipe dream until then I am head bottle washer and cook Not sure if I will be around tomorrow as I am going out for the day at my sister's. They have invite us round for Sunday lunch which I am looking forward too on two fronts the company and the needless to say the food. Not sure how on plan it will be but it is only once in a blue moon. Bye ladies and take care.



purpleorc

Hi gang . . .

Yesterday was so packed with happenings it seemed like a day and a half -- started with some family troubles which are so very difficult to cope with when I'm a good thousand miles away from the epicentre. Then, took Mouse in for his annual checkup and booster shot and the Vet's office was absolutely packed. Took as long in there as it usually does at my own doctor's office. Reminder to self -- do not make Vet appointment for Friday ever again. Finished up with yet another (unexpected) dinner out.

At least we had three days of wonderful weather but it is over now. Currently it's raining buckets and tonight we re supposed to go into an instant freeze-up and then get three (maybe four) days of heavy snow. All I can hope for (other than the forecast being wrong) is that this lion-like start to March will mean a lamb-like exit later on.

Other than that -- portion control she says -- hopefully I can get back to doing the right stuff for the m onth of March too.