Good morning. Going to get near 70 today then temps are gonna plunge into 40’s and 50’s. Can’t gripe as it is December. I noticed a majority of the trees have most of their leaves here and that’s unusual even for us.

Commissary was super busy yesterday, but we got right through when it was time to checkout. We came home and put everything away, then a couple hours later went and got the car washed and vacuumed out and got some dinner. Of course it is supposed to rain the next two days but I’ll not be going out.

Jean: They put cornstarch in powdered sugar to keep out moisture. The name of my mopping machine is IRobot Braava. Our Christmas to each other is sitting on the computer desk. It has Windows 10 installed and it is completely different so I am getting used to it little by little. I rarely buy store brands as I don’t like them as much. They try and tell you they are the same as brand name because they are packaged at the same packing companies the brand names do, but they are not the same quality. I buy DelMonte green beans, canned potatoes, peas, and a couple other vegs, Van Camps pork and beans, Green Giant Corn, etc. It depends on the vegetable. I buy Domino powdered white, and brown sugars. Funny how you choose stuff like that. I think I buy what my mom and grandma used and part of it is where it is available in the country I guess. Hope you enjoyed the concert. I am still debating about getting tickets to go see, “Wicked.” Handicap seating tickets are $90 apiece for all shows.

Everybody have a good week.

Morning all & Happy Monday! Didn't do anything exciting over the weekend. Went to a wedding Friday evening, puttered around the house Sat. Didn't feel well yesterday so didn't make it to church.

GMA: Rafferty's is one of our favorite restaurants! Love the salads! Our weather's crazy here too. 60s today & then high in the 30s the rest of the week. Since it's nice today, we're heading to the cemetery to place Christmas flowers on our family graves. Never know what the weather's going to be around here!

Jean: There are some things I buy name-brand but others I buy store-brand. How were the Texas Tenors? Great, I'm sure.

Time to hop in the shower & get ready to face the day. Have a good one!

Good Evening! Well, the weatherman was right! It was 51 degrees this morning when I came downstairs, sunny most of the morning, and no wind. It is now 24 degrees, very windy, and huge raindrops are falling on a dusting of snow. I have had a nerve wracking day! First of all we didn’t balance at church this morning. People are catching up on pledges, mission giving, kids’ fund raisers, and the list goes on. This Sunday was Friendship giving which adds a separate amount of money to keep track of, a total of $12000+ deposit in the end. I had a dinner meeting at noon and hadn’t gotten my clothes ready because we were gone most of yesterday. Silly me, I thought I would have plenty of time after church. Wrong! I made copies of the checks so they could be deposited and left thinking I could do the posting this afternoon. The dinner meeting ran longer than usual so I finally left and went back to church. Part of the problem is that people write one check and want it divided for different accounts. I was getting a good start when the secretary shut her computer off which in turn turns my program off. She leaves at 3 on some days, today being one of them. I lost everything I had done and I was not happy to say the least. I was ! It took me longer to start over, finish, and balance, but I did. I got home late, for me, and I have a headache! If you ever get a chance to see The Texas Tenors be sure to go! They are so good! They sang Christmas, partriotic recogizing veterans, familiar popular songs from the 60s, 70s, on up.

“Gma,” I don’t like Windows 10! I must admit I rarely use the laptop for anything other than the gift shop money, and have no clue what all the bells and whistles are or how they work. I’m sure I will always be technology challenged. Bob isn’t much help either because all he has to do is call tech support for help. I buy the same things my mom did. She wasn’t a fancy cook as my dad was a meat and potatoes guy. I regret not paying more attention to learning how to cook but it’s too late now!

Sandy, As I said, if you ever get a chance to go see The Texas Tenors do go! Funny that two of the guys were born in Iowa. I’m good at puttering around the house but I need to do some deep corner cleaning! Going to the grocery store and cooking are my least favorite things to do. Life would be so simple if we didn’t have to eat!

Hope you all have had a good day! See you tomorrow.

Good Afternoon/Evening! It was 19 degrees early this morning! We have been spoiled with the warmer weather that this is a shock to this old body. I had an auxiliary board meeting this morning and have putzed away the afternoon doing laundry and trying to find a brown turtleneck online. Got some guy with slurred speech who told me all of his supervisors were gone today then hung up on me! One company said my credit card was invalid and I just got a new updated one. I called the credit card company and the rep said it must be the company website because the card was fine and should work. I was frazzled! Finally found the turtleneck at JCP where I should have started in the first place!

I need to get something on the table for supper and I’m not hungry so nothing sounds good right now. Hope to see some more posts tonight! Have a wonderful Wednesday tomorrow!

Good evening ladies. I am watching “Major Crimes” and flicking back and forth and watching “Master Chef Canada.” Jack is in his office playing his boring baseball statistics game.

My arthritis has been awful for about 3 days and last night was probably why. Thunderstorms barreled through here around 1 am and woke me up. We had some really hard rain then some humdinger hail for about 5 minutes than thunder and lightening. We didn’t lose power though. It’s pretty cold here now after being in the 70’s yesterday. I can barely close my hands and can’t reach into the upper cabinets without bad pain. Been a pain to deal with.

My irobot came, box had been retaped and had no battery or battery charger so now we have to take it to Target tomorrow and return it and get another one.

Jean: Boy sounds like your day was a mess. We had pot roast tonight that I put in the slow cooker. You probably saved money going to Penney’s.

Sandy: We always get prime rib at Raffertys. Hope the wedding was nice.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Good morning ladies. I really need to pay attention to my posting, though with just a couple of us talking together, we don’t have a lot of day to day news.

I see a lot of places got snow last night. My nephew and his family live in Houston and got snow. Indiana was supposed to get quite a few inches too. We are just cold here this morning.

I need to get a lot of work done today, but so far am having one of my off days. They seem to go in cycles where I will have a couple weeks of it then be ok for awhile than back at it again. I just do the best I can on the bad days. I haven’t even opened the box to my mopping system yet.

I had to buy a couple tops from Catherines. I didn’t want to but had a surplus on my credit card with them and they want me to at least bring the balance to zero. What happened is I bought three pairs of pants and they were too long so I sent them back. In the meantime, the bill came due. I waited until the very last minute to make any kind of payment hoping the return would process and I’d only owe the $7 shipping they don’t refund. They have a base amount they charge as a payment so I paid that then of course they processed the return and it put my credit card with a balance in the black. So, they wanted me to bring it to zero, which I wouldn’t have had to do if it didn’t take them 2 weeks to process the refund. Ugh! I just went in to their clearance to see if there were any tops or such cheap that I liked. I found a couple and as soon as my credit card is showing the charge, I will pay the couple dollars balance and be done with it. I sent the pants back priority and they had them in their possession in 2 days, but took them two weeks to refund my money.

I did tell Jack about the credit card thing so I need to tell him I have shirts coming and why because in October I bought a bunch of tops and pants for fall and winter. I hardly needed two more.

We are going this weekend to see, “Just Getting Started” with Morgan Freeman, Rene Russo and Tommy Lee Jones. It looks like it will be funny. We’re going to a matinee one of the two days. Jack is going to shampoo carpets upstairs this weekend as the bed will be here a week from tomorrow.

Well gals, you all have a good weekend.

Good Morning! It is still dark outside so I don’t know what the weather is doing other than it is 22 degrees; yesterday it was 6 at this time. Sunday is supposed to be in the 50s — crazy weather! Yesterday we went to a funeral in Bob’s hometown. There are still a few old timers who knew Bob as a kid or his family. We did some running around in Sioux City looking for a small Christmas tree to put in the kitchen/tv area where we spend most of our time. I also crossed a few more things off my shopping list. I think Ian is going to have to wait until spring for cargo shorts! I can find a few on sale racks but none are his size and meet the requirement of covering his knees! Kolby had a half hour concert and then we went to Perkins for supper afterwards. As we were leaving the school the next round of parents were coming in. The last concert was at 8, glad we were first at 6:30. Today I have to balance out the gift shop money and paperwork after lunch then head back to Sioux City on our way to Ian’s basketball game at 5. Bob wanted to look for jeans yesterday but we ran out of time. I sure haven’t gotten much done at home!

“Gma,” I hope your arthritis is feeling better. I know the weather affects my stepmom’s arthritis too. When you fix a roast in the crockpot do you brown it first? I always fix mine on top of the stove because that’s how my mom did it. We have had a couple dustings of snow but with the sunshine it is gone by the end of the day. They were making snow on a ski hill in Sioux City yesterday when we were there. We went to see the movie Wonder; we went Friday night which I had forgotten is kids’ night out and there were lots of kids, as well as adults, there. The movie was good and as Bob commented he hoped the kids took it to heart. The California fire is sure scary!

My coffee is gone so need to get going and accomplish some laundry if nothing else this morning. Hope you all have a great day!

Morning ladies! Can't believe it's Friday already. This week has really flown by. It was 17 when I got up this morning. Expecting a light dusting of now tomorrow.

GMA: Bill & I love the prime rib at Rafferty's too. I also like the Kona chicken & the grilled salmon. Hope you like your new tops from Catherine's. I need to get some new winter things myself. Let me know how the movie is. Sounds like it'd be pretty good. I love Morgan Freeman.

Jean: Did you get the church money straightened out? I was curious about "Wonder." Glad you enjoyed it. Our daughter & her family live about 15 mins away which makes it nice for going to the kids' concerts, etc.

Have some errands to run today. Making a pot of chili when I get finished here. Also have a load in the washer. I feel like I'm accomplishing something at least.

Well, everyone have a great weekend.

Hi Sandy! I’ve done two loads of laundry, cleaned off the island, and unloaded the dishwasher. We went to the retirement home Christmas get together Wednesday night. It was catered with prime rib and chicken both. The server asked which way we liked the rib and I passed. Bob said a little red and another guy at our table had his so red I’m surprised it didn’t moo! Bob said his was really good, so was my chicken. I can’t do the church posting until we balance the money and that’s the other counter’s challenge. If we can’t find the mistake we make up the difference with cash from the coffee or offering. Receipts have to match the cash and checks except for those two. When we don’t balance we worry that someone gave and won’t get credit for it so go back and double check everything. Usually it is a miscount of cash or lack of filling out the correct information to match the check. Chili sounds good!

Good Afternoon! Well, we haven’t hit 50 degrees yet, hanging at 44. Sun has been shining brightly all day so I won’t complain. I must admit we skipped church this morning; I am somewhat obligated to go the rest of December to pick up the offering and then Bob ushers in January. Usually there are five Sundays in January but this year there are five in December. Bob put the little tree together and it is waiting for some decorations. He doesn’t think the branches will handle anything beyond the lights so we’ll see. We have a busy week coming up; I should say I have a busy week. Lunch bunch, crafty club Christmas lunch, and my monthly coffee date. The month is flying by and I haven’t done anything to get ready for Christmas other than a little shopping. Nothing is wrapped and I haven’t checked the “want” lists lately.

“Gma” I’m sorry about your iPad troubles. Hope Jack was able to get it all straightened out for you. I have looked on Amazon for shorts but if there isn’t a body in them it’s hard to know how long they might be. He is 6’ 1” I think. The freshman won their game the other night and Ian got to leave with his parents because he had a scout lock-in. They played in a small town with no restaurants but do have a Subway so we stopped there to get him a foot long. His mom said he will be looking for more food as soon as they get home. I will give him credit in that he didn’t have chips or cookies. In another week is a concert for Maddy (her other grandparents didn’t come to her last one because it was too cold) and Zowie’s concert is the next night. We missed Ian’s because it was the same night as Kolby’s but Amanda said it didn’t get over until after nine. Since it was high school it was band and the different choirs. That’s a long time to sit on bleachers!

I need to get a load of clothes in the dryer and finish the tree. Enjoy the rest of your day!

Good Evening! It has been a gloomy, very windy, crappy day in my neighborhood. We were supposed to have sunshine; the weatherman goofed again! Counting took a long time at church because lots of different things going on moneywise. I had to go to the main bank to order checks for us and get a new checkbook cover and register for the gift shop. Have done some laundry and took checks back to the hospital after lunch. Bob has been trying to capture a big possum and he just showed up again. I think all the orphan cats have been in the live trap so they just circle around it now.

“Gma,” what a nice thing to do for that little boy! You are so thoughtful! He will be so surprised when he opens the package! I got my Medicare notice today. After the so called raise I will get exactly what I got last year. I think the congressmen should have the same insurance coverage that we do, limit their term, and no big ongoing retirement checks! With the new “plastic” bleacher seats the stadium seats won’t hook on. I did see a couple using them but they were very careful not to lean back too far. The seats the other night weren’t too bad but then we only sat through one game.

Not much else is newsy from here. Hope you enjoy a terrific Tuesday tomorrow!

Morning everyone! I meant to get in here yesterday, but time got away from me. Before I knew it, it was time for Bill to go to his physical therapy appointment for his shoulder (he fell on it several weeks ago) & then run a few errands. Going to try to make out Christmas cards today. Only do a handful. Nothing like I use to do. We started out at 33 this morning, which is the "high" for day. Going down in the teens tonight.

GMA: Glad you got your Ipad mess straightened out! How sweet of you to get those things for that little boy. Warms your heart doesn't it? Your Red Lobster meal sounds delish. We haven't been there for awhile for some reason. Bill loves seafood, but prefers steak any day. I'm sure your new light will look lovely.

Jean: I couldn't sit on those bleachers for very long. Too bad the stadium seats don't fit the plastic bleachers. You've definitely got a busy week ahead of you!

Enough of this sitting around....gotta get busy. Have a terrific Tuesday!

Good Morning! Another cold, cloudy, and windy day in my neighborhood. No snow in sight which is good. Bob is on call for snow removal; his farmer friend had his shoulder surgery early this morning in Omaha, and should be home later today. I’ve been working on a “to do” list. Had several phone calls to make and most had to return my call. I am skipping card club next Monday night so we can go to Maddy’s concert. I have a blood pressure check tomorrow morning to see if switching to a cheaper med has the same results. I hope so but if not will go back to the name brand.

Sandy, I need to write a few Christmas cards too. I have a friend who writes hers in a short poem. I wish I could do that but my creative talents leave a lot to be desired. When we used to visit Bob’s aunt, she loved to eat at Red Lobster so always treated us to dinner there. There is one in Sioux City but we have never eaten there. My favorite fish is fresh out of a Minnesota lake and into the frying pan.

Bob is home for lunch so I’d better get a move on. Enjoy the rest of your day!