Still no luggage. And I had to buy a new cell today because for some reason I can't get the Aussie phone to give me NZ numbers - the man from Telecom told me what to do but I can't seem to get it to work. Anyway, I now have 2 phones to cart around. I must be important.

Then I bought a couple more pairs of pants. I have another tee to wear tomorrow and then I will have to go search out some more clothes, and no doubt another suitcase.

Apart from having to buy new clothes and new phone, I'm getting along okay I guess.

Has anyone heard from Jen? I suppose no news is good news. I posted a card to Mel today. Hope everything is going okay over there.

Put a complaint into the Ombudsman about the power bill today. They have had long enough to get it right. Now the arbitrator takes over. If that fails, it's the lawyers and the tv media muck hounds. I 've taken more crap than I normally would. No more.

I had to read a lot of stuff today. The people there all seem very nice and very friendly. One of the ladies offered to let me have her spare room today until I find an apartment. I have emailed a property management office and now have to ring them to get an appointment to view and then fill out all the freaking forms to get the lease. Such fun. By the time I have everything sorted I will probably be on my way home. Bah humbug.

I will look at personals tomorrow before work. Too tired right now. Sorry.

Good Tuesday Morning Sweet Chicklets...

Today is the day for the ortho specialist, don't know if I am glad to go to find out what is going on with the foot or in fear of finding out. Mixed feelings.

Last night was uneventful and peaceful. Pulled bbq pork, (pork I made over the weekend in crocker) just added bbq sauce, garlic mashed taters and a combo of mixed veggies, snap peas, carrots, water chestnuts, french green beans and the such. Was all very tasty. Brought the bbq for lunch today.

SHADDIE...sad to hear about your luggage. Doesn't that just stink. Bout the time you replace everything, it will show up. Keep your receipts on the new stuff, you never know. When I fly to beach vacations, I carry on my bathing suit, extra bra and panties and suntan lotion. lol. Sounds like the people at the new job are friendly enough. Offering you their extra room is big.

CEEG...you have put up with the trash a lot longer than I would. Especially if it is drawing critters, BEES, and stinking. Just gross.

CHELLE...the concert sounded like a lot of fun. I am so happy you have found someone to spend time with that makes you happy. Hugs Glad Santa is feeling better also.

HAPPY.....don't you hate it when you have so much to get done that you have to hit the ground running when you pop out of bed. Bleh. My temp tooth didn't stay in either when I was waiting on my crown. I don't think they put them in very well. Want me to send you some of my arthur pills for your back. I don't sleep well at night and when I sleep on the couch I sometimes get creaks in my body in the strangest places.

LAURA...glad you had a nice time at the Halloween party. Seems like there is always someone to overindulge in drinking. Hopefully they are a happy drunk and not a mean drunk. Please post your costumes. Good job on the exercising, hope you and DH can work out a schedule for both of you to attend at the same time.

SUSIE...hope DHs appt goes well. Staying the same at TOPS is much better than gaining. Just have to work a little harder. Good luck.

Best get busy, cutting out at 1:30 to head to the doc. 4 months of limping around like Igor is ridiculous.

Hugs, loves and good thougths...

Believe it or not the neighbors have put half there garbage to the curb. I thought I saw the land lord himself over there Friday. He may have fined them too.

Not much else is going on. Did my morning chores and laid down my keys and couldn't find them when it was time for me to leave for work. Luckily I have a spare car key and a spare house key. That will be a chore when I get home tonight.

Annie
Sending you good vibes for your doctor's appointment today.

Happy
I didn't like being on the liquid/soft food diet after my last diverticulitis attack but it had to be done.

Shad
Yikes. No telling where your luggage has gone. Hope it arrives today.
Hope you get settled soon.

Laura
Your Halloween party sounded like fun.

Hi Susie

Morning all.

Shad - What a major PITA with the lost luggage. And what an expense to have to buy new clothes - especially to replace brand new clothes you'd brought with you!! I hope your bag turns up very soon. Good thing you carried your shoes on with you. Nice you were offered a place to stay until you get an apartment.

Ceejay - Glad the neighbors are getting with the program re the garbage. I sure hope you find your keys tonight! You know they're somewhere around your place, just to hunt them down. Just like I have to find the battery for that shrub trimmer...

Annie - I hope the visit to the ortho specialist goes well today. I think it'll be good for you to know what you're dealing with and hopefully you've got more treatment options. Yummmm, pulled pork!!

Happy - Sorry about your broken temporary crown and your ongoing neck/back issues. I hope you find a sleeping place/position that is more comfortable and the pain eases for you. I've been having numbness in my hands/shoulders while sleeping consistently for a while now and I just don't know what to make of it. I really haven't been doing anything differently with the level I keep my side of the sleep number bed set to, and I'm generally rotating pillows regularly because I haven't quite found the one that's perfect. I think the only way I might figure this out is by paying more attention while sleeping in other beds. Not going away anywhere overnight until December. Can't recall if this was happening when I stayed at my mom's. Online, it seems the suggestions are to change sleeping positions. Uh, yeh, but doesn't your body just move the way it wants once you're asleep? Re other people's drama - yep, sure glad I don't have much of that to deal with.

Michelle - Sounds like a great concert you saw - what a lineup of acts! Glad the eye is getting better and Santa's back at daycare. Did you catch up on your sleep last night??

===
Bf and I went to the gym together last night. I went to the Cardio Kickboxing class while he did his upper body workout. That class was really intense, but I think I'd go again. I don't think it's suitable for a beginner exerciser at all - the instructor didn't even spend a minute or two before class to go over the types of moves. I'm only familiar with the types of kicks and punches from some of my Jazzercise routines and from bf, who did martial arts when he was younger. Can't imagine how others followed along with the rapid pace. I was too busy keeping up to be paying much attention to others!! But it was indeed a good sweaty workout. I'd go again. So far so good with the trial run.

After class we stopped at Costco for a rotisserie chicken. Hit the spot.

Not going to the movies tonight - nothing appealed to me. The new Carrie remake doesn't seem like it would be better than the original...I might watch that when it gets to DVD.

I'll probably be getting sore later on - I think my glutes are already feeling it from all the kicks we did in class yesterday. It might be a good evening to sit in the whirlpool or sauna at the gym.

Attaching a photo of bf and I from the Halloween party.

Morning all,

Back is seriously hurting today. I slept in the guest bedroom - no difference. Pain woke me up at 7 so I got up to get an ice pack and some Motrin. Kitties were hungry so I fed them too. Then I noticed the deer were standing in the driveway looking at me through the door so I put my jacket on and went and fed them too but they realized I was not their friendly "corn man" so they took off running as I got closer to them. Thanks guys - like I went out in the freezing morning cold for my benefit I turned up the heat to warm the place up and crawled back in bed with the ice pack for 30 minutes but it didn't seem to do much good. I have to work today and Thursday - not looking forward to it, I can't bend down and get something off the floor so if anything falls - that's where it stays. Yesterday afternoon I popped open a can of soup and eagle ear Nina immediately reacts to anything which sounds like a bag of treats opening or a can of cat food being opened. So I fixed her and her sister a dish of wet food. Then I tried to put it on the floor which was when I realized I could not bend down fully. Poor kitty could smell the foot and was packing in circles and meowing but try as I might, I could not get the dish set on the floor She just had to wait the 15 minutes until DH came back in. I'm sure she was cussing me a blue streak

All of this because I did not go to the doctor for my back in July when it first started bothering me. So I can totally relate to your comment Annie - I tried to fix things as they got progressively worse - and I admit because my hips were hurting so badly I thought it was osteoporosis and never gave a thought to the simple and easily fixable problem of bursitis. Now everything is all messed up - I should probably just call the doctor and get 2 more shots although I'm thinking that I have physical therapy on Monday and we'll see what their assessment is.

Laura - bacon and eggs what a clever costume and minimal amount of work. I had to think a minute and was a bit confused by your "yolk" before I got it. Great job! As for your numbness, are you a side sleeper with the pillow scrunched up on your head or do you lay on your arm? Either can pinch the nerve and give you problems. As for moving in your sleep, I guess it depends on the type of sleeper you are. If I lay on my back and tuck pillows under my legs or raise the headboard or foot part of the bed - I tend to stay in the same position all night long which creates it's own issues. DH on the other hand must shift 1,000 times a night so I guess shifting positions to alleviate back pain or such would not help much. Sounds like you are actually enjoying the classes you have found at the gym. Nice that you could walk into an advanced class and keep up - to me that would indicate you are getting some well rounded experience in the various types of classes you've taken. Good job! Don't forget to stretch those glutes girl!

Ceejay - I hope you find your keys without having to call out the search and rescue dogs That's frustrating when you're in a hurry and they go missing. Sometimes they fall out of the pocket in my purse to the purse bottom and I mistakenly think they are on a counter and search high and low and they are really 3 inches from where they should be Glad the neighbors set their trash out this week.

Annie - I hope they can easily correct and resolve your foot pain. Jury's still out with me as to whether the custom orthothics they often recommend really fix the problem but that will be for you to decide. All I can say is if they suggest them, get the 3/4 ones instead of the full orthotic. The full ones are really clunky and you will have a hard time getting them into your shoes unless you order a pair of Bozo The Clown shoes. Your easy peezy dinner sounded good last night. I love the cooler weather because the kinds of food we tend to make stretches out over more than one meal. Nice to be able to warm up leftovers at half the fuss! Yes, this is really annoying with the crown - I think the material they use to bond a small cavity is stronger than the rough stuff they use for a temporary. Was also talking with my cousin yesterday - I think they when they tell you to bite down as they fit the temporary - it's not the same sort of bite you take when you chew food so I'm thinking they missed a pressure point on my lower molar that acted like a pile driver to shatter the temporary. After I get the replacement I will make sure I wear my bridge when I eat although it annoys me. With the bridge I can't completely close my teeth together so that will lessen the pressure a bit.

Shad - I have not heard anything further from Jen but I did send a card to Mel at the rehab place yesterday. She should get it before the 1st of the month. I will email Jen over the weekend to find out if they are moving Mel again and will let you all know if I heard anything further. I'm sorry they have still not found your suitcase. Between unfinished business (with the power company), new complications (lost luggage) and the inability to get everything set up (with a place to live) - you certainly have a lot of frustrations to deal with. I imagine you take a lot in stride but sometimes it must be unbearably frustrating. And I imagine you are a fair car ride away from the rellies? How long is this contract?

Hello Michelle and Susie

Need to get something in my tummy, flip a load of laundry and then take off for the afternoon. Have a good day.

Hi ladies -

I didn't sleep well last night. Despite how tired I was, I couldn't fall asleep before 10:30.

Tonight, I've got some cleaning to do for my step-mom, so that will be my exercise. I didn't get to it this past weekend because I was too exhausted and run down from my eye infection.

===============
Shad - I hope your luggage is found and delivered to you soon. Between the new phone and new wardrobe, this is an expensive assignment. I hope your new assignment is going well so far.

Laura - I love your Halloween costumes! So cute!! Glad you enjoyed the kickboxing class. I enjoy those classes even though they are sometimes very intense. I haven't done one in awhile because my physical therapist said that all the kicking to the side and back might overtax my back. So be sure and engage your core when doing those kicks.

Annie - The dinner sounds totally yummy. BBQ pulled pork is awesome! I love hearing about your happy life. I'm so glad you and C found each other. Good luck at the specialist today.

Ceejay - I'm glad your neighbors brought at least some of their trash to the curb.

Happy - So sorry to hear about your crown breaking apart. Glad you didn't swallow it though. A soft food diet for 2 weeks would be challenging, but I'm sure you can come up with creative ways to fix things. Heck, I'd use it as an excuse to eat ice cream for 2 weeks!


I hope Mel (and Jen) are doing ok. I sent a card off to Mel the other day. I didn't get a chance to add captions to the photos while I was home with my eye infection because I just couldn't see well enough to be in front of the computer for very long. I'll do that this week, so there's still time to add more photos.

Much love to all,

Happy - I'm so sorry to hear about your back. As for bending to pick something up from the floor, can you either squat (bend your knees) to pick it up? Or can you do what my physical therapist used to call the "golfer's move", where you bend over, but swing one leg out behind you. Sometimes that makes it easier to pick stuff up as long as it's light stuff and you're near something you can hold on to for balance.

Laura - If you want some good stretches for glutes, google "piriformis stretches". They help A LOT with glute and upper hamstring tightness.

LAURA...love the costume. Sam went as a b*tchy pregnant lady. They cut the arms and legs off of one of Ainsley's dolls, then glued them on the front of a t-shirt with blood marks around them. How gross but clever

Thanks for the tips Michelle - I can't squat and get back up again because of hip issues. But I can and do use the golfer's move. Didn't realize that was a legit move so now that you have confirmed it with the physical therapist I do feel better about doing that. One foot out sort of gives some momentum to get back up again too. Ha ha on the ice cream binge - not a bad idea. Reminds me of how people got their jaws wired shut for overbite corrective surgery and gained a lot of weight because they lived on milkshakes. Maybe I should tell the dentist tomorrow I want a gold ghetto temporary tooth :rolf:

Annie - at least Sam didn't go as "sexy" preggo lady. Apparently they are making a big to-do about costumes this year where everything is focused on sexy as we continue on the dumbing down of America. I read a brief article - downright stupid stuff like "sexy potato" what??????? Makes me glad I don't dress up except I am working at the shop Halloween afternoon. I'm going to wear my Boo T-shirt and that's about as dressed as I will get. That is, if I can find it from when I put it away last year...

Ok Mel. I really miss you. Really I do.

Happy
Ouch on the back. You may need to get one of those grabber things like Mel had. I'm getting myself one for those type of days. I find heat does me more good than anything. Hope it feels better soon.

Laura
The costumes were really cute and clever I might add. Good job on the kickboxing class.

Michelle
I'm making sleep my priority from now on. I fell asleep on the couch last night from exhaustion. It's probably because I don't get to bed on time during my work days.

I was hoping Annie had posted about her trip to the doctor/ortho.

Kinda proud of myself. I don't like exercising in front of this camera at work but I did. 30 Minutes of cardio max with Bob Harper from you tube. I think I'll do the cardio sculpt with Jillian tonight unless I can find that on you tube as well.
Food has been a lot better today as well. Guess I'll have to cook more.

Yikes, justhas I had feared. I have post traumaticankle arthritis. On the bright side, it is not rheumatoid orosteoarthritis. Just a result of theankle break 25 years ago. The two bonesare sitting on top of each other, no space or gel between. Kind of like when your brake pads go bad onyour car. Doctor had many suggestions onthe fix. Not any really great ones. Ohand it is my right ankle, driving foot. boooo

1. If I were 65+/not even close, non-smoker/check, non-diabetic/check,then he would definitely go with complete ankle replacement.

2. Surgery- go in a scrape it out – but would notlast for long.

3. Surgery- Fuse the two bones completelytogether. Downside cast and crutches for8 weeks-no weight bearing and loss of mobility, which I have very little ofanyway, wouldn’t lose much.

4. Hard plastic brace-which would be a major pain

5. Soft brace

6. Cortisone injection

Healso suggested getting those rocker shoe by Sketchers that would make the shoedo most of the work rather than the ankle.

So…Iwent with the cortisone injection, soft brace and will purchase the Sketchers.

Docalso said that the fusion surgery will eventually have to be done, in my owntime. I will know when the pain is a9-10 on a 1-10 scale every day. So far Ihave only had three 10 pain days in 4 months. I would say that surgery is far off as normally I am at a 4-5, then withanti-inflammatory meds it is 1-3.

Morning all,

It's off to the dentist shortly. My regular guy is not in until Friday so I'm seeing the other dentist - no one likes him so I hope this will be ok. All they have to do is remake and re-seat the temporary crown. My back and neck are still really, really sore so I should call the doctor and see if I can get in. Other than that, not much else going on. I have to stop at Walmart and pick up a few things including some candy. We won't get anyone here at the house for Halloween - especially since they are predicting a yucky day of heavy rain and chill - but I am working at the shop tomorrow afternoon and some one may stop in since it's right in town. If nothing else as my coworker said - I can offer a bit to any customers who come in.

Ceejay - good going on the exercise, even if it is at work. Gives the person monitoring the cameras something to look at Isn't it amazing how we always eat better when we cook our own stuff?

Michelle - hope you were able to get some sleep at a decent hour yesterday. I wanted to go to bed earlier so I took 2 Motrin PMs. They did zonk me out but I am tired and sluggish this morning. My system does not like getting up before 9am

Hellos to the rest of the chicks - will check in later this afternoon.

Annie - I see that we were posting over each other. That's a real bummer on the ankle. I know the pain you must be feeling - that horrid bone on bone crunch. Owwww. I had never before heard of an ankle replacement but I guess it's a joint so why not? If they do a fusion, how much flexibility and mobility will you lose? Not just for driving but for just plain walking? I hope the cortisone works and buys you some time. I imagine the oncoming cold weather will irritate it more.