Maintainers Weekly Chat August 11 - August 17
 

Camping was better than I'd have ever dreamed. The Adirondacks of upstate New York cover 6 million acres with much of it unspoiled. Even the key spots set up for Manhattan tourists with guard rails and iron fences have open trails with no signs of intervention. I'm ready to go back.

Bill The camping area sounds amazing! Photos please!

Little Nat (DH is calling her G Nat) has been with us for just over a week now. She is a smart little thing - has figured out most of the rules with very little reminding. And is she ever a snuggler! :love: We had DH's best friend and his wife over on Saturday and Nat even won over the wife (whose mother hates cats so she has no experience with them). I am smitten - so great to have energy and youth and positivity in the house. I am going to start letting her go outside when her collar and ID tag arrive (tomorrow I hope) as this is her major frustration right now. We sat outside last night to view the full moon coming up and Nat was furiously banging on the window behind us. DH brought her out and kept her in his arms - she was OK for a couple of minutes and then started squawking. She is very vocal. Walks around by herself chirping and squawking - :lol:

Dagmar :D

Bill, that sounds great! Glad you loved it.
Dagmar, awwww she sounds so sweet. So happy she is bringing you such joy. It reminds me of the bumper sticker "who rescued who?" I never quite understood how true that was until we got our black lab rescue.

I biked on both Saturday and Sunday with DH. He's so happy I'm finally getting into it. There is a sale next weekend at a big bike store and we are going to get me a new road bike. I'm using DDs old bike now. Also I signed up for a 5k on sept 20th so this will push me to stick with the Couch 2 5k program I started last week. DD is back home for about ten days before she heads back to her last year of college. Yay! Only 8 payments left!

Bill, I'd also love some pics! Fresh air and unspoiled views ... so glad you had a great time!

Dagmar, you sound absolutely head over heels in love! She sounds like a sweet little thing. :)

Cal, I'm sure DH is overjoyed that you're testing out his sport! 5K's are a lot of fun - I'm not much of a runner (at all), but I like them because they're over before they become a trudge. :D

DS15 and I did our first-ever open water race. Well, he raced - I volunteered because I have a little head problem with lakes and water that I can't see through. And weeds (shudder). He ended up winning the men's open division in the half-mile, and came in 2nd overall! Me, I "floated" it with an acquaintance from high school (30 yrs ago) who is completely deaf, new to swimming, changing her life toward exercise, and had serious doubts about whether she was going to make it through. It was such a great feeling to see her face when she came across the finish line - this was a HUGE moment for her. Yes ... it would have been a lot of fun giving hot pursuit to DS, but in the grand scheme of things finishing with her was even better.

DH and I decided to bring our formerly feral office kitty home. It's been, well, interesting. There has been a little hissing and growling and everyone is not eating well but there have been no fights, so that is good. They all hung out in my bedroom all day yesterday and no fuss at all. I do hope they start interacting soon. And start eating normally again, too.

I feel as if I need another vacation. Things are winding up at work with this whole name change. Once escrow closes things will heat up again as I'll be super busy applying for city licenses and lines of credit with our vendors. This morning I woke at 12:50 and tossed and turned until about 3:30 when I finally fell back asleep for a short time. I woke up again at 4:20 but had intended to get up at 4 to exercise. Instead I stayed in bed and will have to exercise after dinner tonight.

Anyone have any good ideas on helping my stupid washing machine to clean better? I HATE pulling out what should be a clean pair of shorts only to have a smudge of something-that-wasn't-there-before on it. DH has the same problem with his white work shirts--small smudges all over them. It really irks me.

Good Monday morning!

Kids are back in school and routines are being established.

I have 100 days until my 50th birthday. I am working toward a 10 pound loss by then. :p

And now there is some sadness in our lives. Although it was an expected death DH's BIL passed away this morning. I just heard now. We were hoping he would have had a bit more time.

Dagmar

Dagmar, I'm so sorry to hear this news. :hug:

Client seems very happy with first draft (bodes well) so I'm going to produce a shorter version. I quite like precis. But I really want to finish painting the sitting room and work on the garden.

Allison, run it empty on hottest programme, with washing powder/liquid for the full cycle. (That's what is recommended for front-loaders but I gather you sometimes use top-loaders in the US. Surely would work for them too? )

Ward! Welcome back! Establishing routines sounds good. That's what I'm trying to do but school holidays are in full swing here.

Becky - good going all concerned!

Sharon - excellent on the biking!

Bill - wonderful on the camping!

Thanks, I'll do that tonight. We do have a front-loader.

Allison, make sure you let it run for the whole cycle, spin and all.

It's worked for me in the past. GL.

My top load washer has a special cleaning cycle which involves bleach and a special setting. Does yours have anything similar Allison?

Dagmar

We traded places! I went to the North Shore and was blown away at how depressing and terribly run-down Salisbury Beach is contrasted with how disgustingly picturesque and lovely Newburyport is.

Oh gosh, so sorry. :(

So sorry Dagmar. Losses are never easy, even when expected. Glad y'all have the sweet kitty for comfort.

Your camping trip sounds beautiful Bill! Glad you were able to fully enjoy nature.

Sounds like a great goal Ward. I'm back from London for almost a week so I'm officially over jet lag. Guess the 5 pounds is a real gain as it's not going anywhere.

I have one more week of vacation before going back to school. I realized this weekend that I have my physical next Monday and need to have blood work, a mammogram, and a bone density scan done. I had my fasting blood work done this morning (grumpy!) and scheduled the other tests for later this week. I'm hoping to fit in some extra exercise this week too so my days are pretty packed now....

Sharon.... Glad your dd is home. Mine leaves to go back to school next Friday. She's ready to go back. She seems kinda sick of me but I think she just misses her friends and doing social stuff.

Becky.... Very cool for your son and your old friend.

Hello to everyone else! I'm off to body pump...