[Maggie]

GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIA FRIENDS

It is a chilly day here in the Heartland but warmer than yesterday which never got above single didgets. We are somewhere between 45 and 50 now ~ a heat wave. Well the mam-0-gram went better this day than ever I had before. What a neat gal that did the work. The vampire was good also ~ never felt the pin prick and she found matching wrap to match my blouse to hold the cotton on ~ chartruse. I just won't be so resistive to go back to that place next year. My mouth is watering for I have a roast in the crock pot and the titilating order of it is wafting back here in my shop. Will broght me 3 more bags of that Whitmans Weight Watchers candies that are one point each. I had 3 bags already opened (which I had only one piece eaten) from the last time he got me some ~ and now I opened these three bags and dumped them in the drawer. I had given him a coupon that I got at WW meeting but didn't expect him to get them so soon. He was at Wal-Mart to get a desk lamp and went ahead and got them. What a guy. I don't eat much candy ~ Never did in fact. I like a piece of this to eat with my popcorn. He also brought home a large mesh bag full of California Navel Oranges. They look so good and I am going to open one after while for a snack. I do believe Oranges are my favorite fruit, oh don't forget strawberries, love them also and blackberries and watermellon and ~ well I do love most fruit.

SUSAN I always thoght they found the holes in the heart when docs listened to them because it changes the sound. I didn't realize any different but I haven't heard much about it so thanks for your input. That is so good that your friend didn't have one of those lingering diseases. I had one brother that just dropped dead from a heart attack; he was an apparant very heathy guy for he was young and a fireman and passed all his physicals which are strengent for firemen with flying colors. He was married with boys 8 and 10. One of the boys is now a fireman and the other an Bridge Builder. They are both doing well and have bought property in Hawaii. And another brother that was full of cancer and didn't know it and lived only 6 months after he found out. No one else in my family has had cancer and we think my brother got it when he was little and played in barrels that used to contain toxic white powery bug killer from a place in town. No one knew what would happen those days to those who came in close contact to that white powder. He was married with a couple of young girls and an adopted boy when he died. His girls are both married and one is an Engineer and the other a Nurse and the boy is in college. He did have a baby boy that didn't make it for he wasn't strong enough to withstand the pressures of an operation to reverse his damaged heart. His aeorta and pulmanary vessls were switched so it wasn't pumping properly at all. Those were my two youngest brothers. There were 6 of us to begin with, 3 girls the oldest with 3 younger brothers.

DONNA Shame on those folks blaming your Sis. People tend to yell at the clerk when it is store policy. Hoorah for your planning now for retirement. We got rid of all of our debt and it is a burden lifted for sure and we aren't completely retired. We plan that we will always have some sort of car bill even if it is just fixing up the Jeep. Retired, just half of us. ME. Yikes I have been retired since I was 45. Life is good. Peanut butter on cerial. Now that is a first ~ I never heard of doing that before and you will NEVER find me doing that. But if it titilates her and works for her, go girl. I only ever eat Grape Nuts or Shredded Wheat. I am not in to those fancy cerials.

That roast smell is a killer. I think I'll go eat an orange now. Type at y'all later. Stay warm.

[QuilterInVA]

Good evening, ladies! It is freezing here - 20 degrees and going down. Big concern about frozen pipes in homes with crawl spaces. Mine is built on a slab so the pipes are buried. No basements because the water table is too high to dig more than a couple of feet. In the older neighborhoods, some house don't have central heating so there are all kinds of warnings on tv tonight about kerosene and electric heaters. We just aren't used to get it below 30 degrees in the winter, and then not for long. I'll be all cozy in my bed tonight with the electric blanket and quilts. Weigh in tomorrow so I'm hoping it warms up a little.

Maggie, you are right - my father and 2 of his brothers died with their first heart attack, here one minute, gone the next. None of them had been diagnosed with heart disease. My dad had emphysema and was in the Veteran's Hospital at the time. He was supposed to be discharged later that day. When God decides to call us, he does.

Faye, I should be done paying on Stan's medical bills this year and then I'll be debt free except for house. I have enough in IRA to pay it off (if the stock market doesn't go bust altogether). It's such a good feeling to be debt free I can't wait to get there. We never used credit cards except for emergencies unless we knew we could pay them off as soon as the bill came.

Jean, are you thinking you might not want to retire after all? I love backed potatoes, white and sweet, and make them often.

Maggie, I'm thinking about you.

Have a good evening!

[Jean]

Good Evening, Flowers! I've had my nap in front of the TV and here I am. We sat down to watch a movie on the Hallmark channel and that's the last thing I remember. I guess I was more tired than I thought. It has "warmed" up today -- it was only -3 on my way to school and 12 on my way home this afternoon. With the wind it sure felt a lot colder! I should have made a grocery run after school but will do that in the morning unless I can talk Bob into doing it.

"Gma" -- We had school as usual today. Several of the surrounding schools started two hours late because of the cold, but not us. The building never warmed up this week and some teachers had space heaters going in their rooms. That is a HUGE from the fire marshal. I think the HUGE windows don't help either; most of them don't fit tight where they open and close. I was glad to get home to a warm house! I'm going to have to pay for a couple of months of Cobra insurance since our BC/BS plan won't be in effect for two years until July, which is the requirement to roll over into Bob's BC/BS plan. I'm glad I don't have to figure insurance stuff out! It drives me

Maggie -- The lunch at school today had fresh oranges and they sure smelled good. I wonder if there is an "orange" smelling candle out there?

Susan -- We have a friend who moved away and left her house empty. For whatever reason her pipes sprung leaks last winter and her house was full of mold by the time it was discovered. Anyhow, it cost her big bucks to have it cleaned and it still hasn't sold. It is close to the middle school and the new elementary building which will open this fall so I would think it would have sold fairly quickly. I've never had a baked sweet potato.

I'm going to put in a load of laundry before I head off to bed. I think I will peek outside and see if the freezing rain is happening. The weatherman hasn't been very popular this week. The funny part is that of the three local channels, they all have had different forecasts so we don't know who to believe anymore. I'd like some warmer weather so the snow can melt!

Have a great weekend!

Jean -- from Iowa!

[gma22]

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