Shannon-- I'm sorry about your parents' dachshund. My two dachshunds have been 15 and 16 when they died. My last one, Samantha, was blind, deaf, and not very mobile for the last year of her life. She lived in a comfy armchair and we would carry her outside to potty and eat. She always ate voraciously so we kept her going until she was obviously in pain. We have two very large dogs now but we keep saying that when they're gone we may go back to a dachshund.

Love the talk on convertibles. We are thinking of buying a used VW convertible (new bug). Dd is going to take dh's truck back to college in the fall so we'll be down one car. I found a great deal on a co-worker's car but dh wasn't interested because he has his heart set on a convertible (it was a BMW SUV with almost no miles!).

Looked at another college today. Dd eliminated it as a choice because 1. too close to home, 2. too small, 3. ratio of girls to guys is 75/25!

Off to do my schoolwork now....

Michele~isn't it sad what our kid's priorities are? LOL I'm sure she'll chose wisely. My DD was going to go across the country or into Canada and she chose a school less than 2 hours from home (not that she comes home all that often, but it is SO much less to have her come home by driving rather than flying!).

Shannon~sorry about the bad run. That sucks.

Laughing about Pat and the possible pregnancy!!!! LOL I'm so glad we all gave a sense of humor!

Wow! I can't believe how much I value function over form.

Everything in my little house is designed to work and it does. I'm now staying in a place where the ground floor is bigger than my entire house but things are arranged according to what's currently stylish, not what works.

I'm going to be doing a lot of improvising and re-arranging tonite. First job is to find somewhere to put away my clothes. This can be tricky as this is the house with the stealth peeing cat and he likes to go on strangers clothes and suitcases and shoes.

Then I'll get food into the fridge. I'm going to be eating cheerios and water this morning and buying lunch and dinner but then I'll be back on plan by Saturday.

I love the spaciousness here though - can spin around in any room with my arms stuck out and not touch anything!

TGIF! Have a great one all!

Dagmar :sunny:

I heard a rumor that Pat's pregnant! Congrats!! :lol:

(at least that seems to be the way "word on the street" flows in my real life! Rumors, rumors!)

LOL Pat, I know how old you are so I didn't think of pregnancy! :lol: Funny how so many different ailments could have a diagnosis of pregnancy though. The other day I felt generally crappy, and had a back ache. I said to DH, well, either it's PMS, or my birth control failed and I'm pregnant, so we'll see in a few days! :lol: (It was PMS, but it's funny how PMS and pregnancy have the same symptoms.)

No convertibles for us. DH and I both lack any interest in cars beyond their ability to transport us safely from point A to point B, and their reliability. The only reason I bought my car new instead of used was because there were no used Subaru Foresters for sale within 100 miles of Indianapolis at the time. We plan to drive both my Forester and DH's Civic until they croak, which should hopefully not be for a while.

Michele, I am laughing about your DD because one of the reasons I chose the school I did was because its ratio was 75% men and 25% women, so I figured it would be easier to meet guys! :lol: Although in retrospect it would have been nice to have more women, but there was a women's college across the street from us.

Hey midwife, now I'm curious, what was the oldest women you ever midwife-d for?

Michele - I am also entertained by your DD's criteria. There was a college in my hometown, but I excluded it because it was just too close to home! The one I picked was close enough to drive home to do laundry or get groceries (45 mins) but not close enough to drop in, and was listed as a fun school for parties. Not that I used the parties as a decider at all. :)

Jessica - I desperately want to drive this CRV until it dies. My recent car history doesn't reflect it, but that is who I am. I wrecked two Toyotas in their first three years of life in my 20s, drove a Mitsubishi Montero Sport that I hated for almost five years until I could unload it ad get my Element, and have been in my Honda cycle ever since. Traded an Element (for a Civic) because it didn't get good enough MPG for my 100 mile commute I acquired after it, traded the Civic on the Accord because I picked it out as my settle in and stay awhile car. I was really mad about the brake defect, because I loved that car. The CRV and I are going to be together for a while.

Allison - how is the exercise going now that you are released from PT?

Midwife - my life seems to run around word on the street as well! Funny. And yes, what is your oldest midwife-d woman? Curious myself.

I took DSS to school this morning because DH has the morning off for the World Cup game. So, of course I had to get an iced sweetened coffee from Starbucks, which is right next to a Wendys which is now serving breakfast. I'm going to have to eat my yogurt and banana for lunch to make up lost ground on the calorie front, at least it was a really good biscuit. :)

My legs are still sore from yesterday - note to myself, the 3 Day Split workout from stumptuous.com is too much while running, 3 Day FB workout much better. Not as much leg all on one day, spreads the load out to more manageable levels.

Good day everyone! :wave:

I'm having an off morning. I woke up and I had not turned on the automatic coffee maker last night (prepared it, forgot to switch it on). So I turned it on and went back to bed for 10 minutes. Then my paper didn't arrive. I really like doing my crossword puzzle before work. Ugh.

As for exercise, Shannon, I'm doing a couple things that he showed me that I can do at home. I'm still waiting for DH to put together my bike thing-y. He said he'd do it last Sunday, but it's still in the box. I think he's waiting because he wants to move everything out of DD's room and put all the equipment in there. Then when DD comes home from school she can sleep in the guest room.

I'm so much different on cars, Jessica. I started with a Toyota Celica when I got my license and I drove that for 10 or 11 years (I couldn't afford a new car then). Then we sold it and I drove DH's Honda Civic. He had bought that before we were married and I drove it for about a year after we moved to California. Then we traded it in for a Honda Accord which I drove for 5 years. Then a Chrysler 300M for 5 years. Then the Infinity M35 for 4 years and now I have a 3 year lease on my Jaguar. Each car has been a step up. And now DH is looking at the new Jaguar XJ. Wow, what a nice car! DH is currently driving his 3rd Ford Expedition but he's thinking of getting a Cadillac Escalade next. He needs the ability to haul work stuff around so an SUV is best for him. But living where we do, we are constantly being enticed by the cars around here. I'd really love an Aston Martin or Mazarati, but right now those are a little out of reach! LOL

Pat, I now feel whacked. :D I did know about the age since retirement has been a word you’ve used. But then, maybe Alaska has really young retirement ages. I hope you feel better completely today.

Shannon, how cool someone else can follow my logic. I think it’s mostly my ability to rationalize poor eating choices. That’s why I’m on the life long log my cals so that I can control it. Because I still rationalize and play mind games. My guess is your situation was handled way better than at my work. I used to be in HR and know what was being done was wrong and mostly it’s being swept under the rug. That’s what happens in school districts where the administration is educators not trained for Human Resources. :mad: But I knew that going in. Today is great because I have today off and then the problem person is on vacation for 1.5 weeks. At least I won’t hate being there until July 1st. :carrot:

Michele, too funny on your DD’s requirements. I do admit, I think the 75% woman would be a minus as well. Just not a big one.

Dagmar, “stealth peeing cat” – OMG that should be a just a blast. ;)

Midwife, count me in on the curious of your oldest pregnant patient.

Jessica, I hate driving and riding in vehicles. That’s why I have the convertible. To make the transport from A to B have a bit of fun since I live a ½ hour from work.

Allison, S. Cal’s car envy is like when DH and I used to visit my sister in Boca Raton, FL. DH is a big car person (I used to say he was bilingual – English and car talk). So we’d visit S. FL and I’d people watch. He’d drool at the cars. :drool:

Blah elliptical workout this morning. I just didn’t want to but I did my distance but not in the time – had to add an extra 20 seconds – which isn’t much but since I usually smash the distance/time minimums, it was humbling. But, it is sunny (although still 15 degrees colder than normal) and the sun makes my solar panels warm my pool and I get to swim. I did yesterday too. It was a high of brrrr 65 but no wind. I decided Mother Nature was chopping at my swim season and beggars couldn’t be choosers. The pool was warm so in I went. It was wonderful. And the run from the pool to my house was another form of exercise. :D
Marie

We also have had tons of cars.... we have never kept a car longer than 4 years. But we are finally trying to buck that trend. We've never paid off a new car and kept it! I was just talking to dd (15) yesterday about the purpose of cars. I told her that cars really should just be to get us from point A to point B safely, but in today's society, we have changed the way we look at the purpose of vehicles. They have become a status symbol, and my family has bought into the hype! However, we are keeping dh's truck (giving to dd) and it will be paid off and 5 years old soon. Since we're looking at buying a used car (instead of new like we always do), perhaps we can shift our focus. That doesn't stop us from drooling at all of the new expensive cars!!

DH and I are in the point A to point B camp. His car is a '95 and mine is a '99. We both buy used (w/ cash) and drive them for at least eight or nine years. His commute is only 2 miles each way, and I stay home now, so it makes sense for us.

Count us mostly in the Point A to Point B camp. We try to buy newer (< 3 yrs) used cars with low mileage, and like Ward, pay with cash. My 2001 CRV I bought less than a year old from the dealer - it had been a rental. We bought DH's 1999 Toyota Tacoma truck at the same time, and it's still going strong.... In 2007 I managed to have a freak accident - a rollover in a supermarket parking lot (I kid you not!) and totalled that CRV. Got the 2004 after that. But from 1977 to 1999, I had a 100 mile RT commute, so while I kept my cars an average of 5 years, they all had over 150K miles.... In 1999 I changed jobs and had a 7 mile RT commute until I retired. :)

I feel much better to day and had a great UB workout at the gym this morning.

Now I'm working on a quilt. One of my friends' son and his GF have decided to get married on Aug 7! Talk about not much notice! Fortunately I had an "unclaimed" one started which will be good for them. They had a baby in May, so I may include a quick easy one for her too.

My dad is a great one for keeping cars. He currently has a 1984 (yes that's not a typo) Buick in Estonia that he had containered there 10 years ago and my former Corolla which is an 89 (again not a typo) which he's keeping in his garage as he doesn't drive in Canada any more.

I have only had 2 cars in my life - my current 2000 Corolla and the 89 before that. I took public transit for over 30 years and never had any reason to leave Toronto. Now DH's family all lives waaay out of Toronto and I drive all day for work so we both have cars.

I bought the 2000 Corolla new as the 89 gave me nothing but problems (I was it's 4th owner) and I just wanted a reliable car for my business. I'm hoping it runs another 4 years and then I'm getting a Honda civic sedan - probably about a year old and I'm paying cash.

Dagmar :sunny: