Wannabe - You did an awesome job instilling the right values in her it is always right to be honest. it is a rare find in the world we live in though. Most people are looking out for number one. God bless!

Carol Sue What a delight to read about your step-daughter's actions. Wish we had lots more like her.

I drove in high winds and torrential rains to get to Chapel this afternoon. Because the person who has hour before me needed me to come to relieve her, I couldn't wait till the storm passed. Safety finally.

So many plants starting to bloom. Trout lily from the mountains in California have beautiful yellow blooms that look like pagodas on the green hill side. White Blood Root is in full bloom, sunshine this evening make that very white bloom shine.

Davey Tree trimmed our huge Maple yesterday. Glad they did it before the high winds hit today. One limb that goes over the house was made lighter by removing some of the side limbs.

Wish I could get out to garden. Weeds are also growing rapidly.

Love2garden, my allergies are really acting up this week. I have an Easter Lily and a Hyacinth in the dining room that I should probably put on the back porch for a while as they are bothering me. When the lilac bushes start to bloom I will have to stay in the house for a while. That will be around mother's day.

We went and had our taxes done this morning by the AARP. I usually do them myself but only do a paper return. I wanted to do it online but don't know how, so we let them do it. It was free, but they love to gab, so it took a while.

I hope everything is OK with Mary.

Carol Sue Sorry about the allergies, but am in the same boat with you. I was in Church 3 hours yesterday, sharing the space with Lilies and Hyacinth. Luckily someone made the mistake of turning the furnace on "continuous" so the air changes did help some. Shame to miss the Lilac blooms that smell so wonderful. I don't react to those, thank goodness.

Isn't it a relief to have those taxes completed!!! This is the first year that our tax return went in before April 1st, and with a friend doing it, (she has her own business), I felt good that she is careful and accurate, too. Didn't owe, anctuall got return. Next year we may owe, last year was our first year fully retired and had the 2013 refund moved to 2014 taxes. Turns out that it was too much. So grateful!!! We've had so many home expenses that this will be doubly appreciated.

Sue Hope you are OK and have more time to post.

Mary What is the latest for you?

I spent this morning planting some Stonecrop in an area of poor soil, that we gave up and mulched. Under the mulch we had put the weed preventing cloth. I simply slit the cloth, tucked the Sedum roots under, then stepped on the roots. One pot was divided into 6 plants and should still fill out by the end of summer. We have a young Serviceberry tree (many trunks, and beautiful small white blooms showing now) in this "L" shaped garden, too. the part across the porch has 3 large yellow peonies that I protect, and will keep the invasive stonecrop away from these precious plants.

I'm proud that even tho I'm very heavy, I can still garden (altho I look awful doing so.) Don't care what I look like while enjoying the garden.

Yes I am fine...thanks for missing me Just busy and the kids sleep in my office and they sleep in usually so I stay out until they are all awake unless I really really have to get on.

I've enjoyed having them here and cooking for them even but it is getting a bit difficult to please everyone. Tonight I am making a quick and easy ham and bean soup to use up the rest of the ham and making it without any veggies, not even onion other than the beans. I intend to use onion seasoning and chicken broth to flavor it. Wonder if a few small cubes of potato would be good too? Just thought of that now. They like potatoes.
I don't have any on hand but might text dh to bring home some as he is getting the beans for me.

Laundry is everywhere (because of so many people, and three of us doing it) and somehow I've lost a couple of my gym/all around pants. So yesterday I went shopping and bought one pair at Ross. I hurt too much to bother looking for more even though I need at least two unless i want to shave my legs......I do have some short pants. It's still a little cool for them too.

We've been getting to the gym, but today I babysat and dh went fishing. We will go tomorrow. I've continued to be very achy but am better today, so maybe it's going away on it's own. I'm fine with that as long as I know it's fully gone by the doctor's office on Tues.

Think I mentioned my previously neighbor/friend passing away? Not sure if I did here or not. Anyway we will be going to her service on Monday. Doesn't seem possible that she is gone. Well we are all getting old, dh was just saying the other day that now at 80 (well the 30th), he is finally feeling his age. I said well at 72 I am already! I think it's mostly the achiness for both of us though...if that went away I think we wouldn't be so tired and would feel younger.


Carol Sue - I am proud of your step-dd too!! It makes me feel so good when I see/hear of my kids doing the right thing too! There have been times when I felt I did everything wrong so it's good to know one did a few things right.

Enjoyed reading all the posts...

We had a major storm today and our electric went out. That hasn't happened for years. DH called, because sometimes we think that our neighbors always think someone else called, and then nobody called. They said power would be on by 6AM. I was concerned about sleeping without my CPap. I have a hard enough time sleeping as it is. But the electric came back on around 8 PM. I think they were saying 6AM as a general time for them to get everyone's electric back on.

Sorry to hear that you lost a friend, Mary. My niece's BD is also April 30. She will be 47. LOL Wouldn't it be nice to be able to go back to 47. DH feels old as his son will be 50 in January. I notice when I read the obits there are more and more people I know. I have this thing about reading them and counting how many people are younger than I. Isn't that morbid? Several of the guys I dated in high school have passed away, and it makes me realize that if I had married them I would be a widow now. Then there's a guy I dated who is now 82, and still going strong. Funny the things we think about.

I didn't realize your family was still there, Mary. You're having such a nice long visit with them. Don't worry about the house. It will still be there after they are gone.

Ross has just recently come to our area, but I haven't been there yet.

Love2garden, we don't owe taxes anymore, but DH still has taxes withheld from his pension check so we have to file to get it back. He was getting it deducted because I continued to work several years after he retired and we needed the deductions so we wouldn't have to pay. Now we are no longer in a taxable bracket but we continue to have the money deducted. We will put that toward our real estate taxes.

I am doing well. I am holding at the same weight. So that's good, busy at work yesterday cleaning out a storage shed.
Love tobgarden- sounds nice ! Flowers coming up... Can't wait.

Maryea- Glad you have been able to have family visiting and your soup sounds yummy.
Wannabe- sorry about storm I can sympathize we had an ice storm wed. Freezing sleet and rain. Roads were yucky. Looking forward too spring and sunshine

Mom coming down for weekend love spending time with her. You guys all have a good weekend. God bless!

doitforme, you have really had it rough this winter with the snow and ice. I think our snow is finally over for this year.

I called and cancelled our scheduled appts with our previous doctor. It feels good knowing I do not have to go back there. We went to the gym this morning. A man there told me I should sit back further on the bike and I tried that. It does make pedaling easier but made my hip hurt more, so not sure I can continue it. My pain has lessened in some ways but is still there and sometimes it is still really bad. I was hoping it was just one of my usual painful episodes that seem to come and go in cycles, just more painful and lasting longer this time, but I'm still not sure. If I'm still hurting I will talk to the new doc about it if allowed time.

Everyone liked my ham and bean soup last night, however to me it was just ok. My younger son had three servings and even my dil had a couple as did my dh. Only the children refused to try it. My older son came in late, had had dinner but still ate a bowl. It is gone now and so is all the ham, nothing wasted.

Tonight I'm fixing chicken casserole. Like the soup it will be made younger son style (LOL), with no vegetables, just chicken, seasoning, rice, and cream. I figure he will not be here long, I'll try and please him while he's here with us.
I will serve broccoli on the side. He likes that but will not want it in the casserole.

Wannabe - We don't get a paper but when I do read one I'll often read the obits the same way looking at all the ages. Joe was talking to one of the other gym members today...and was surprised to learn he is 93. He looks like late 70 or 80s the oldest, few wrinkles and no saggy skin. He walks the track slowly...resting between laps, no shortness of breath etc. Right now both of us feel older than him. Hope we perk up again soon. Dh esp used to be so young for his age.

Tax talk - We ALWAYS have to pay more in taxes, no refunds since can't remember when certainly not since I started working in 1984 and we had lots of deductions and children then. Never helped. Still have quite a bit of deductions considering we don't have a mortgage and we have much less income but still doesn't help. The year we made that "bad investment" we went to H&R for first time...I've always done them myself...and we ended up paying more than ever dreamed of paying in taxes plus had to pay them to do it. Decided I'll stick with doing my own. At least we are paying less every year.

Well, Mary, look at it this way. The fact that you still have to pay taxes means that you have more income. We have to get an additional $6K in income before we even reach a taxable bracket. I would like to have more income, but it's a good feeling that I get a few years of not paying any taxes after working all those years and contributing. We have learned to live with what we have.

My mother used to make a delicious bean soup, but I never tried making it. My family would not eat it. The only soup DH will eat is vegetable and chicken noodle. The chicken casserole sounds good. DH doesn't like casseroles. He does not like his food mixed together. He wants to see his meat, starch and vegetables in separate places on his plate. He told me casseroles are for women. I like them because you just mix it together and put it in the oven...no standing there watching it. He does eat this one casserole I make with chicken and stuffing, and he will eat lasagne. I always tell him that next time I'm going to marry someone who will eat whatever I put in front of him. LOL I don't know how many times I have eaten something because it was what he wanted.

I hope things go well for you with the new doctor. Do you think the other doctor would ever call to ask why you're not coming anymore? I don't think you will be the only patients he will be losing.

We've had a mostly run around day. Woke up early so went to our gs's dance competition. We didn't plan to go until then but glad we did. He and his little girl dancer won platinum overall duo and he also won 4th overall petites division winner. So he got a trophy..and we are so proud of him! Did some shopping and ate out both lunch and dinner. For lunch we shared a small Mex combo and for dinner, dh got a noodle dish and I just got two appetizers, and both of us brought home most of it. I will make pork fried rice tomorrow with my BBQ pork. I don't often eat pork so this is one of the exceptions.

My pain has been worse again ..it's a puzzle...hoping the new doc can help.

Carol Sue - Yes, we do have a good income for a retirement income I guess...mostly due to dh. I contribute only a very small SS check. It is a very good feeling to be able to live on what you earn and even better to be content with it and a great achievement to learn how to do both. I learned way to late in life but we have learned. So you and your dh have done well.
About your dh's way of eating...my youngest son is kind of like that. He doesn't like most foods mixed together because he doesn't like his foods touching on his plate. Amazingly he did like the chicken casserole but realize it had no veggies at all in it....it was just chicken (Kirkland canned chicken breast), white rice (I don't think he even knows about brown rice! ) and cream. I was afraid he would balk at the cream (he always wants to know whats in everything) but he didn't and I don't like to use "cream of" soups.
Some of this kid's likes and dislikes make no sense to me, but that's the way he's always been. When he was younger, I did not make allowances for him....he had to eat what I served or get nothing between meals. I allowed one good for you thing before bed only. Once he got 15 I let him eat what he wanted though and he's been this way ever since and since adulthood he has eaten pretty terrible but I can't mama him forever..he knows a lot of his eating is unhealthy, even the doctor has told him to change his eating but he refuses.

I don't know whether our current doctor will ever ask about me. I doubt he will because I suspect he will know why I'm not coming in. If he asks about either of us it will more likely be my dh. I don't care anymore, just hope my dh will be brave enough to tell him to truth. He needs to know so he won't do it to other patients.

Mary, my step children lived with their mother until they were 9 and 11, then they came to live with DH, around the time we got married. They had very good eating habits from their mother. Although she had the bad habit of smoking, she believed in healthy eating and they got no junk food. They didn't start eating that until they moved in with Dad, who is a junk food junkie. They ate everything I made, but then I was cooking what DH would eat. My step-son never liked potatoes or rice. He would eat his meat first and then some veggies but never the starch. Now his son is the same way. DH loves potatoes and tried to get GS to eat them but he won't. It makes DH so mad. LOL DH loves canned cream of mushroom soup poured over his food, like gravy. I buy 6 cans at a time. I also like to cook with cream of chicken soup and cream of celery soup. It's quick and easy. When DH decides he's hungry he wants something to eat in a hurry.

Mary, when I was growing up my father got sick when I was 4 and could no longer work. We were very poor. I actually can remember digging through the couch and chair cushions trying to find enough money to buy a loaf of bread. When I moved out on my own, I was very frugal. DH grew up in the land of plenty. His father had a good job and they were the first family on the block to get new things. He wants to spend, spend, spend, and I am the one who holds back, always wanted to have some money set aside for a rainy day. When we both were working we had money for whatever we wanted, but now DH does not want to cut back. I have to rein him in. It reminds me of when Bobbi used to talk about all the things her DH wanted to buy. He thinks when he wants something he can just go to the ATM. I really don't know what would happen to him if I am the first to go. He will get a rude awakening!

Good morning GG's,

I've been reading, but haven't had a chance to join in. The end of last week ~ waiting for news about the schedule of the medical tests I was to have. That took place on Friday. We went the night before and stayed in a hotel ~ it is downtown Houston about an hour away (when the traffic is good) and we had to be there at 6am and didn't want to get stuck in a mess of rush hour traffic and be late or miss an appointment.

It was a long day ~ labs and 3 different tests, plus some patient teaching before meeting with the dr. We met with him ~ he was very nice and explained everything. A surgery date was decided (April 20th), so I had more lab work, had to be cleared by the anesthesia people, and xray and an EKG. The people there were so helpful and were able to arrange things so that we could have it all done while we were there instead of having to come back on another day.

I will be able to go home the same day, unless when they decide during the surgery (removal of a defective parathyroid gland) that they need to do more, then I would have to stay overnight.

I feel so stupid. I was supposed to hold my metformin until tonight (I was gonna wait until tomorrow ~ just to be safe) because of having had a test with IV contrast. I think I forgot and took both the AM and PM doses yesterday. It's gone ~ so not much I can do about it but pray. I looked up online about it ~ I don't have any symptoms, so hoping I am ok.

It is a rainy dreary day here today. I got out and got the Sunday paper before it started pouring.

Carol Sue ~ how wonderful ~ your step daughter being honest and doing the right thing. You are so kind and patient ~ dealing with your husband's many preferences for how he has to have his foods.

Mary ~ sorry that your pain has been worse. Glad you are going to a new doctor and don't have to be treated badly anymore. I understand how you feel about the achiness ~ and feeling older than we might otherwise because of it.

Love2 ~ your yard sounds pretty with the different flowers and things. Glad the weather has been such that you can get out there and enjoy time in your garden.

Doit (Sue) ~ glad you are getting to spend time with your mom ~ enjoy.

Hope you all are having a nice weekend.

Gayle, the pre-surgery testing is sometimes as bad as the surgery, you have to do so much. I'm glad you were able to get it all finished in one day. I think I told you about the one time the nurse in the hospital made me take my metformin when it was supposed to be held. I should have just refused and let her report it to whomever. Also one time the cardiologist didn't tell me to hold my metformin. I was OK both times. It's probably just a precaution. Glad you are OK too. So in a week or so you will be finished with surgery and on the mend.

Thank you for sharing that Carol Sue (about the metformin) ~ that makes me feel a little better.

The testing wasn't too bad. The hardest one was the parathyroid scan ~ I had to lay still for an hour. I think because of the rheumatoid arthritis ~ having to stay still that long ~ made me hurt. Moving is good and I was glad when I got to move.