Susie
You may not remember this but I bought a Microsoft 10 inch tablet.

Laura
Good for you on voicing your opinion about the class after all you are paying for it.

Annie
Will say a prayer and send good vibes for your son about the position he has applied for. I know how he feels with the knee problem.

Shad
That's good exercise. I rather take the steps than the lift any old day.

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I'm waiting for the rain to start. I did decide that I needed to wrap the outside faucet. It only took a few minutes.
I made homemade soup last night and will have some more tonight. Going to have some left over rotesserie chicken for lunch.
Rode the bike last night for twenty minutes. Not sure what I will do tonight
Weighed in this morning. I'm getting closer to the 190 mark. I weighed 194. I weighed 198 at the doctor's office last visit a couple of weeks ago.

Good morning ladies - (well morning here anyway).

I had two good phone interviews today. And now I have to go get dressed (up) for two interviews this afternoon. One is for a writing (technical documentation) job, and the other is a pre-screen for an agency.

Tomorrow morning, I have an interview for a long term contract with a government agency in San Francisco, and in the afternoon I have an interview for a position as a web developer who can do it all - design, program, search engine optimization, writing, social media (which is me).

I'm hoping and praying that I get a few great offers very soon.

And Annie, I hope your DS gets the job he's going for too.

Much love to all,

Good luck with all the interviews Michelle!

Ceejay - great job on the weight loss!

Good luck Michelle.

Afternoon all,

Annie - if you wish to use the C word, go right ahead. I'm not and I won't. A highly overated festival for many people and I have been cynical about the 'Peace on Earth goodwill to man' syndrome for years. It ain't going to stop in a hurry either. Even with a grandchild, I can't see me viewing the situation with a much less jaundiced eye.
Glad you liked the desert roses. I have several picturess of them in all different shades from red through to white. I will send some more your way.
Hope you have a good pitch in dinner tomorrow. Sounds nice.

Laura - bummer on the trains being late. But since you didn't hold anyone up and had no meetings it's okay.
Glad to hear that you worked up a sweat in Zumba and also that you voiced concerns about the class in general. That's good feedback.

Ceejay - homemade soup. Yummy. What variety was this?

Michelle - seems like there is work around in your neck of the woods. Hope you catch something soon. Would you enjoy that long term contract - and what about the commute from where you are?

Well as you can see, I am bored at work. So here I am again. I should go and do some more work, however I'm coming to the tough stuff and have no idea what I am supposed to do with the transactions. And I am dealing with an Indian off shore support person who directs me to kindly do this or that. I don't feel too kindly about it but I eventually get it done to his satisfaction.

The weekend is here in a couple of hours. Not sure what I will do tomorrow (after I have done some much needed cleaning and housework) but I might toddle off to the cable car if the weather is fine and tramp through the botanical gardens. Don't know if the spring flowers will still be there, I suspect not but the roses will be out no doubt. Or if I get done in the house in time, I might hire a car and toddle off to Turakarei Heads and tramp through the great outdoors and see if the seals are there. Probably not as they tend to winter over and this is not winter.
But whatever I shall take the trusty camera and check out the flora and fauna for you guys.

Might hear from Happy over the weekend. See ya all.

Ok SHADDIE...ba humbug on the C word. Really I just like the birth of Jesus part and loving God. I don't like decorating, shopping or anything else that goes with it. I went to get some Thanksgiving decor for our pitch in and could not find much as the Christmas crap had already been rolled out. WOW, could they at least wait till one holiday is over to start the next.

CEEG...good job on exercising and WL. What soup did you make?

CHELLE....more luck and prayers coming your way.

LAURA...any kind of exercise is better than nuttin. Good on you for speaking your piece about the class.

Have a great Friday/nite..

Got lots to do before the festivities begin! YUM

The soup is my own version of veggie soup. I call it dump soup. One can of this one can of that. Yes frozen veggies would be better and maybe next time I will do that. I did have frozen black eyed peas in it. I can't use real onions so I use the powdered onion.

Annie
I'm with you on all the hoopla of Christmas and I'd rather focus on the Biblical side as well. However, the church I attend claim that the birth date of Christ has not been established. I say we need to celebrate his birth no matter what time of year it is. And if Christmas is set for that reason then that's when I will celebrate it. That's one thing I'll get to enjoy when I go live with my sister in Missouri. Their church does this. I do put up a small tree.

Shad
I love how adventurous you are. I wish I could go with you at times.

Laura
My vacation days actually ended Wednesday. Now I'm on my week end with today and tomorrow left to enjoy. It's back to work on Sunday. And Sunday will be a cold day with possible wintery mix.

Hi Susie and Happy I'm sure that Happy is enjoying her visit with her mom and sister.

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I downloaded a couple of games to play on the tablet. It even had domino's. I played for at least an hour last night.
Also road my bike for 30 minutes and did 25 minutes of upper body strength.
Think I am going to have the cable internet turned off to my desk top and use my hot spot and tablet from now on. Wish I could use my Scrabble game on here. But this tablet doesn't have a place to play a DVD. I did find a game similar to Bejeweled.
I'm getting to use a mouse on this too, which is better for me. I have only one port, but I do have extra ports that I can plugged into if needed.

Morning all. Sequel to the delayed trains yesterday morning was me totally oversleeping this morning and being about an hour late. Have no idea what I did with the alarm/snooze...boss wasn't miffed, so all's okay. It happens, thankfully very rarely.

Shad - Hope you're off doing something exciting this weekend. I quickly googled Turakarei Heads and it looks like a very rugged area, but the site had a photo of a seal pup - awww. Enjoy whatever you end up doing.

Annie - I do enjoy the holiday times, the decorations, etc. I don't enjoy at all the commercialism and how they start up ridiculously early with the C stuff - right after, possibly even before Halloween! Such a shame to practically pass right over TG, which is one of the nicest holidays of all - just time to be thankful and spend time with family. That's what makes the holidays less special to me nowadays - our family has been spread out for a long time now, and we weren't all that closeknit to begin with...not much family togetherness. I'm glad to be hosting bf's mom and two friends this TG.

Ceejay - I love most soups - just a great meal. Except I do like to have nice crusty bread with it, and butter.... Another great job on the exercise!! Sounds like you're enjoying your tablet. Enjoy your weekend. We're gonna get cold weather this weekend too...brrrr. Keep warm! Good thing you wrapped that outside water spigot.

Hellos to the rest of the Worldlies. Have a good Friday!
==
Nothing much to report. Bf was going to go to the gym last night and the car wouldn't start. He tried to jumpstart it this morning and it wouldn't jump, so he used AAA to tow it to the dealer. The starter went out. Bleh. More $$$ out the door.

If there's one thing I don't want, it's an unreliable car. So we'll use it through the winter, get some minor interior and exterior cosmetic work done, have it detailed in the spring and sell it.

Have to get busy this weekend in prep for TG. House cleaning and shopping. It's supposed to get super cold this weekend, so I'm not real thrilled about working on the garage. But we do have at least 2 space heaters sitting around in the basement, so I suppose we could make do nicely out there with them. We need to get it done, so we better just soldier on with it. That's what we get for procrastinating...

TTFN!

Evening all,
Had a terrible night last night and didn't get to sleep until after 3.00am. Woke up at 6.00am but refused to get out of bed until 9.00. Sort of dozed and read a bit and dozed some more. Then I got up and dressed went down the road and got some fresh bread and had breakfast of eggs and toast with coffee. Finally got some house work done and decided to wander off to the Cable car and the Botanic gardens. I do wish my camera had smell since the fragrance in the Fragrant garden, the Herb garden and the rose garden was something else. I have put some pictures on the dropbox in their own folder if you want to go have a look at my day. Then I walked down some of the steepest parts of Wellington to get back to the city, found the underground market and had a quick peep in there. Got home, and collapsed on the couch so my feet could recover. Tomorrow is market day and my friend Chris (from Japan) is coming for lunch and then we will go to Te Papa (National Museum) for an art exhibition. Then Monday of course it is back to work for the day before flying to Aus on Tuesday. Must see if the hairdresser can fit me in for a cut and possibly a colour.
Had a message from M - DS1's partner - to talk about the doings of the MOST INTELLIGENT GIRL on the planet - my grandchild, who is learning words sometimes not so successfully. Apparently one of the new ones is goog-ga - which M thinks might be doggy. However she keeps pointing to either mum or dad when she says it. Hmmmm Dog - mum = b*tch. Dog - dad = stud. Oh dear!!! Of course I shared that with M.

Work goes along and is becoming repetitive and somewhat boring. I am also having some grave doubts about this apartment. But that's a matter for later discussion. It'll do until I get back. Lord we are nearly into December. Where has this year gone.

Annie - the reason that I dislike the 'festivities and good will' is partly that - Thanksgiving is a great holiday festival. I think it stands for something and gets the families together to do their thing. There is no third party. But the commercial sector seem to think that Christmas stands for buying Mum the Crown Jewels and Dad the latest Diamond encrusted Bugatti Veyron and that the kids should have everything under the sun whether they want it or not. Bah humbug is right. One day, I will tell you the trauma behind Christmas for me.

Ceejay - the Cable Car and the Bot Gardens are not adventurous unless you call the hills mountain climbing which is some cases it feels like. Going to the Seal Colony is a bit more wild and woolly. However there are things out there that you will never, never know if you never, never go. One weekend I am here, I will get on the Interisland Ferry and go to the South Island and see what's new down there. That's a beautiful spot. If you want to be a bit adventurous, get in the car take it down a road you don't normally go on and watch out for the brown signs - I think you have them over there. The brown signs usually indicate a park, or a waterfall, or a cave or a garden or vineyard that is a touristy thing and worth seeing. Once you have turned off the highway and followed a brown sign, I guarantee you will see more and more of them. They rock.

Laura - so sleep in is the thing. That class must have really worn you out. It's a real pain when the car won't start. When they start to cost money, it is time to get rid of them - you are right.

Okay - taking my aching legs and feet to bed. Please let me sleep better tonight. I did just finish a cup of Snore and Peace. Never seen it before, but it seems to work although I didn't have any last night. It's some herbal tea - got camomile, lemon balm, lavender and a few other herbs. Not bad taste either. Normally I am not fussy about flavoured teas.

Hi Everyone. Busy Saturday planned here. I just finished paying bills, next on the list is to clean house, run a few errands and then I need to return a pair of boots that I bought online hoping they would fit but are too narrow, so it's a trip to the Mall.

DH will do the grocery shopping while I'm cleaning the house. I have to make the list out...thinking of all the extra things that we will need to get for Thanksgiving. We do a carry-in style for Thanksgiving and will be at my brothers. I'm taking a sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs ,rolls, and two pies.

Because of the Memorial Service I attended on Thursday I missed my TOPS weigh-in and we don't have a weigh-in next week do to Thanksgiving.

I have weighed myself at home and set a goal to have 3 lbs off at the next weigh-in at TOPS. I'm back to logging my food and I have lunch workouts scheduled this week on my calendar so that I will go do them.

Laura: Nothing makes me more anxious then a car that is giving me fits. I drive almost 100 miles round trip to work everyday and I want to know that car is going to work! I'm glad to hear for you all that it was the starter. It is a bit of money but not as bad as it could have been.

Michelle: Fingers crossed for the interviews you have been having.

Ceejay: Sounds like you got a good workout in. This spring I'm thinking of taking our spare bedroom and turning it into a home gym. We really don't have that many people that stay with us and so I'm thinking of getting rid of the bedroom set in that room and the old tv and getting a futon that could be used for a bed if needed, getting a new flat screen and putting it on the wall so I have floor space and then setting up free weights and a exercise ball in there and also maybe mirroring some of the wall so I can have watch my form in the mirror. I am going to also think about putting a bike, or treadmill or elliptical in that room.

I currently go to the Y to work out but when I get home from work I don't want to and so if I could pop in there and get some sort of workout in.

I am planning on my tax return to make this happen.

Shad: I think your life sounds very exciting with all the things you do and see. I don't understand your work. Maybe you can explain to me what it is you do?

I'm almost sure it is this sight that makes my cursor jump all over the place.
Don't think it would be this new tablet. Anyway, I just lost a long post because of it.
I really do not want to go back to work tomorrow. I've enjoyed my pretend "retirement" this week. Think I could get used to this very easily.
Went back to Blytheville today to exchange a top that I bought that was to small and bought a few more groceries.
I am planning to spend the night with my uncle on Thanksgiving night but for the rest of the week I'm going to be at home. Just because I want to.

Super quick post just to say hi as the wifi internet here at the house doesn't always have great signal.

Hope y'all are doing well. Last night, D came over and fixed me dinner and then we watched Doctor Who on TV. Today, I met with some women from my writing workshop, which was nice. Tomorrow, it's working on building a portfolio which hopefully won't take too long. Also have to do laundry and who knows what else.

Much love to all,

Hi guys -

Grrrrr - I somehow lost 45 minutes of typing. The screen flipped and it logged me out. It's late and I'm not going to retype.

I am very sad about Mel - I feel like I lost a big sister. I would like to dedicate December's thread to a "best of Mel". December was her favorite month. I have lots of emails I've save and with a bit of searching I can find the post we made 10 years ago when we first met here after Shad dragged her to our thread. Been love ever since and I will miss her more than I can say... Thank you SO MUCH to Shad, Laura and Jen who jumped hoops to make sure I knew about Mel. You're the best sisters

I am having a good time here - my flight was good, I missed the storms and I sort of wish I'd planned 3 weeks because the time is going very quickly. But I do miss DH and the kitties too. The only downer is that my back is hurting me very very badly and I'm in alot of pain. I'm hoping it will clear up and not get worse after the long car ride home as I have a very busy weekend and following week.

It's really late and I had a nice day with my childhood friends and since I've been here I have gotten back to a normal bedtime. I'm at my sister's now and they are getting ready to roll up the sidewalks and shut down for the night so I will type a more proper post tomorrow.

Goodnight my sweet sisters.

Okay chickies - that is the weekend blown to pieces. One day of work then 3 days of exhausting mayhem - hospital appointments are the Army equivalent of hurry up and wait. hopefully I will get hold of K the hairdresser tonight and get a hair appointment for either Tuesday or Wednesday late afternoon. I will send her a text shortly.

Happy - I wanted to let you know asap as we three had been together for so long. It would have been very sad for you to get to a computer some days later and learn of Mel's passing through that route. Some of Mels emails - that I can find on this computer are generally to do with the birth of S (Mel's 1st great niece apparently) my granddaughter and what she wanted to get for her. There is a bit of info on Hurricane Sandy and the devastation and work it caused. But not much else. I didn't keep all of them. There were many and to be honest I never thought they would stop. I might have time to juice up the old computer when I get home and see if there is anything on that one. Did I really drag her over here? Was she kicking and screaming?
Sorry to hear that your back is still sore and giving you so much trouble. Is the DH coming to pick you up and take you home????

Michelle - get as much done around the house as you can now. Once the work starts flowing again, there will be no time. I can guarantee that if you leave it till later, a job will come in and you won't have done half of what you wanted. Happens to me all the time.

Ceejay - I thought it was the site for a long time, however it sometimes happens in a word document as well so I think it is a Microsoft bug. Who does want to go back to work after time off. Not me. I could happily retire apart from the money. I want a job from 10.00am to 2.00pm with a 4 hour lunch break.

Susie - Totally understand the feeling of not wanting to work out after work. I used to go early mornings just so I could sigh gratefully and say there it is done for the day. I wish I could sleep the fat away. I'd be awfully thin.
So, what do I do for a living. I am what is known as an Instructional Designer or a Tech Writer/ Trainer. Whatever you want to call me. I design and write the training manuals for computer programs such as SAP, Peoplesoft and do in house documentation on Microsoft, Prima Vera and a few other programs. Usually this is for the big Multi Nationals such as BHPBilliton or Rio Tinto and the like, however lately I have been doing more greenfield sites - greenfield being companies that are just starting the SAP journey. I then deliver training to the users. However I tend to specialise in such areas as Plant Maintenance, Warehousing, Projects rather than Finance, HR or Payroll. I do make an exception for accounts payable/ receivable etc. Finance and HR (stands for Hardly Relevant in my mind) are just too controlling for me.
The training takes me to some very out of the way places and I have been on coal mine, diamond mines, uranium mines, gold mines, manganese and bauxite mines and refineries such as fertiliser, petroleum, nickel and cobalt. I've worked in retail - department stores, grocery chains and plumbing outlets a couple of times and I've worked for utilities such as water, gas, electricity and railways. The worst I left to last. I've also worked in Government departments. They always suck. I work under contract, so I am self employed. I also work away from home a lot. Some years I can be away for up to 8 months or so. I try to get home as often as possible and the joy of travel is wearing off as the projects get sillier and sillier. Gone are the days where the project was structured and budgeted down to the last training session. Now they employ off shore contractors - sometimes good, sometimes not and by the time they get to training and documentation, all the budget is gone and we have to get it in fast. No wonder the peasants get snarky.
Anyway, that's the gist of what I do.

Today I met up with my friend Chris and we had lunch at my place and then went down to Te Papa and went to the impressionists exhibition. Not quite as big as I thought it would be, but interesting. I love most of Claude Monet's paintings and there was a few there I hadn't seen previously. The exhibition was of French Impressionists and early American artists who had been influenced by the impressionists, so we had Rodin, Degas, Matisse etc. and the Americans, Wilkins I think was one. There was another whose name escapes me who was a real pupil of Monet. There was one painting of his that I could have sworn was a Monet. Anyway, we wandered around, Chris bought a calendar and I bought a couple of icecreams which we devoured. Oh yum. I am always home when I get a double scoop in a tub of a: Lime Swirl and B:Boysenberry delight. Needless to say, I didn't want dinner tonight. Lunch plus the ice cream was over the top thank you.
'So time to go sort out my gear for tomorrow and get out the small suitcase for the trip home. See ya

Shad
I'd about come to the conclusion that is Microsoft that's doing the jumping around.

Happy
Nice that you stopped by. And I think it would be appropriate to dedicate a month to Mel. I'd been thinking about seeing if I could go back a couple of months to see if I could find the post that she and her friend cried over the friends cancer.

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Just finished catching up on part of the most important paper work. I'll do the rest tomorrow.
Got my hair cut short this time around and then it turn cold. I gotta find my ear muffs.
Nothing new.