Good evening GG's,

Thank you all for asking about me. I have just been busy and not online as much.

On Friday, since Maddie doesn't have homework on the weekends, she wanted to go to the park ~ we rode our bikes, then after the park ~ rode on to a shopping center where we used some coupons we had for some things at McDonalds and called that supper, then rode home.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day ~ afternoon to evening at my son's apartment he moved to the previous weekend. DH was putting up a series of those command hooks so Jason could run a cable from the modem to the TV and other devices (up a wall and across an archway). I crocheted while they worked on that and got to visit with Jason, when his dad didn't need his help. Always enjoy getting to spend time with him. After we left there ~ ran some grocery shopping errands.

Sunday, while DH was doing the yard work, I worked on scrubbing down one of the outdoor chairs. It had gotten caked up with pollen and dirt that stick to them when it gets damp. I got one done and then Sara and Maddie showed up ~ they stopped by for a visit while out on a bike ride. Maddie got a new bike and wanted to show it to us ~ she had outgrown the one she had. So, enjoyed getting to spend time with them. I will have to tackle the other chair another day.

Today, I didn't accomplish much ~ I don't know ~ was just in a kind of funky mood ~ nothing wrong ~ just.....

A busy week ahead ~ between DH's appointments and mine. He is doing PT twice a week for a frozen shoulder ~ it is improving. I have my follow up appointment and lab work for the parathyroid surgery. DH has a stress test on Wednesday. We have some phone calling to do to arrange some other appointments we have left to take care of. Trying to get everything taken care of while the insurance is covering it.

Tomorrow, gotta get the labels sewn on a couple clothing items I am sending mom for Mother's day. I had hoped to get that done today, but it didn't happen. So, get that done and sent out tomorrow, as well as some greeting cards that need to be sent. I also have to stop by the library and pay up ~ for that book I lost. I never have been able to find it.

Carol Sue ~ glad you were able to spend a little time outside without being bothered by the lilacs. Sounds like you are on the right track with the vegetables and your blood sugars. Way to go leaving the stuffing.

Love2 ~ so sorry about the loss of your friend. So sad. Glad you will be able to be there for your friend at this difficult time.

Mary ~ did you have a fun time with your grandchildren? Are these the younger ones ~ are they the ones that live closer to you?
Sorry about the weight gain. Why is it so hard to behave? You are not alone ~ I struggle with that too. Hope Joe likes his new eye doctor.

Lynn ~ have your cats started their sessions with the feline psychologist? I am interested to hear how that goes. Ooooo ~ counting down to your trip. Excited for you.

Hope you all had a nice day.

Gayle, I'm glad to hear that you were just busy. I spend way too much time online, but I think I'm addicted. I don't spend much time with other people except DH. My step-children don't come around much. They are all working and busy. My step-son moved and is now an hour away. I would like to stop out to see them more often but DH never wants to. That's strange, because it's HIS child! And the only grandchild he's ever going to have. Now that summer is upon us, his in-laws are back from AZ for the summer, so our grandson will be spending more time with them. We are his winter grandparents. LOL

I thought it was strange that the lilacs didn't bother me. Maybe my body changed and I'm no longer allergic to them. I remember one Mother's Day I was sitting out on the deck for about 1/2 hour and had to come in the house it was so bad. I remember when I was living at home my bedroom was on the first floor and my allergies got terrible. Eventually I realized that it was because my mother had iris growing right outside my window, which would be open in warmer weather. Don't have to worry about iris anymore...DH killed them. LOL

Carol Sue Glad to hear that the Lilacs are not so bothersome this year, so far. Had to laugh at you saying that the Iris problem was solved by your husband since he killed them.

Funny how many times what seems a bad thing can turn out to be a blessing.

Everytime something dies in our carefully cared for garden, I look at it as an opportunity and space to try something different. Not always better however, because I miss our huge 50 year old Maple that gave such great shade out front. Small 10 foot open branched Service Berry sways in the wind but is offering no shade and no privacy either, so far.

Gayle Good to get the news from you. As we are older, isn't it amazing how many medical appointments occupy our time and leave little time or energy for those Social events we enjoyed when we were younger.

Thank goodness I've enjoyed the opportunities to do what I want to do on the spur of the moment now in retirement. Found that I'm reading far less and spending so many hours outside in one of the several shady areas around our home. Going to pick up 2 folding lawn chairs that we can take out under the Sunset Maple that is also a pathway to wheelbarrow storage behind the Nadina. Great shade and good view, but a regular chair or bench would be in the way.

Lots and Lots of Annuals are now planted, fertilized, and watered. Now to jump back as they begin to grow. We love plants in bright reds, yellows, and purple. With the softer blues and whites to keep them separated.
Still have some plants to buy and plant, but for now we simply enjoy what is up and looking good.

I choose plants that have good foliage as well as pretty blooms. That way the garden looks good for most of the time. I like the spikes of ferns and Iris, and the spread of Hosta and the flow of Daylily foliage log before any blooms show.

Muscles ache from so many hours yesterday planting, lugging bags of stuff and watering cans, pedometer shows thousands of steps and I never left our property that isn't big. Satisfaction is so high!!!

Fell asleep watching NBA basketball last night, and when I went to bed I fell asleep right away - slept 9 hours!!! Today is a day of rest just as Sunday was.

Mary Outside our home is in order and looks fantastic, but I don't dare let anyone come inside. It is neglected so bad and laundry basket overflows and beds need changed. Thank goodness DH and DD never complain.

In fact, DD made our lunch and brought it out to the picnicking table for the 3 of us to enjoy great weather under the dappled shade of the huge Maple out back. No one was running mowers, etc so we had music of the many birds that come around so often. We are so blessed!!!

Just found out we will be babysitting every night this week except fri, sat and sun. Well yesterday was easy so hopefully it will be that way the rest of the week. It would easier on the kids if we went to their house but they have stairs and with my hip right now I don't know if I can stand that. I'll see how it goes and if it improves we might try it. I think I would also worry about them more because they like to play outside more there and their street is very crowded with kids and cars. You really have to watch for small children when you drive around there. I tell myself it is only one week no matter where we do it.

I'm getting off to a rather late start this morning but hope to get some cleaning done. I did a lot of laundry yesterday but still managed to get a couple rooms weekly cleaned. I've still got laundry in the machines to take care of so will have to finish that too. Hope to get mostly done before the children arrive.

Love2garden - I love that you see the bright side of everything...so important...I tend to grumble and complain too often but inside I know that "all things work together for good..." I got outside a bit on Sunday...pulled a few weeds and just enjoyed the flowers and all. Our kids were here and we pulled out some folding chairs and enjoyed them out there while the gc and dog played. As far as inside, that's where I am mostly, and my OCD tendency demands I keep it fairly clean and organized. I don't mind others homes being messy, but my own has to be what I see as under control. It is far from perfect though. My house is old and needs a lot of work done. Another piece of baseboard broke off the other day...keeps dh busy repairing...this piece is split but he will glue it back and hope it holds a little longer. Someone must have accidentally kicked it on the way down the hall. Our main bathroom and kitchen are in bad shape...need remodelling. Seems like I'm always saving for other things, usually something outside, like now I'm still saving for the front door and frame plus hope to get enough together for desperately needed new siding. With an older home it's always something and we neglected ours for way too many years while raising our four children.
But we have now been retired twenty years and due to paying off bills from previous years and building up some savings, we have neglected it again. So now very late in life we are hoping to get some remodelling done.

Glynne - Sounds like you have been busy. You mentioned cleaning lawn furniture. We need to do that too. I'd like to have a family get together on Memorial Day. Our patio is a mess right now because we also have a lot of our older son's things stored out there. So hoping to get his help to move somethings (where though) and clean up the rest.

Carole Sue - Glad the lilacs aren't bothering you. I love lilacs and have three bushes...two small and one a different variety that is large. The large one hasn't bloomed yet this year and shows no signs of doing it. I hope our strange weather this past winter hasn't killed it. Funny about the iris..a good thing out of what wasn't good at the time I guess.

Lynn - Your travel date is growing close and excitement must really building. Take care and stay healthy.

Yesterday we went shopping for a new garage door. Finally. We have the original wooden door and DH has been repairing it to get by, but it really needs to be replaced. We got a good deal to have it professionally installed so that DH doesn't have to deal with it. He told me a while back that we won't be around much longer so he is not going to do any improvements to benefit someone else. Just fix what needs fixed. And I'm OK with that. I used to be more particular, but as long as we keep up with painting etc, I'm satisfied that our house looks as nice as the other houses in the neighborhood.

I am going to get some red mulch for the flower beds on the sides of the house. DH was against it, and yesterday he told me why. He says that he ends up being the one who spreads the mulch and he wants me to help. I used to do it all myself, but I told him the reason I quit doing it is because he criticized the way I did it, so I let him do it the way he wanted. I will see what happens....if he lets me do it my way. LOL He likes to be in charge. There are a lot of leaves in the flower beds from last fall. I think I am going to put the mulch over top of the leaves instead of raking them out. There is no sign of weeds growing up yet and I think that may be because of the layer of leaves. Usually, I clean out the leaves. I'll let you know how that works for me. LOL

Mary, lately we have been babysitting at our son's house because it is just more convenient since he has his video games etc there to keep him entertained. The exception is when they are going somewhere overnight or will be out really late, then my grandson stays overnight at our house. He loves to stay overnight because Pap Pap lets him stay up late, but I get really tired early and wish he would just go to bed. DH waits until he falls asleep and then carries him in to bed.

Good afternoon/evening (depending on where you live) GG's,

Kind of a dreary day today ~ got enough rain for the lawn so as not to have to use the sprinklers.

I haven't accomplished much in the last couple days. One day, I spent trying to find some information I had come across on another day when I was surfing the net. Maybe I will learn to save the web sites somehow so I can find them again if I want to. It was driving me nuts, but I finally found it. Started a word document and copied and pasted the links to the web sites in it.

Working on crocheting and still trying to finish up getting mom's items together to send. It was supposed to be for Mother's day, but won't get there in time now. She will still enjoy it I think ~ some cute summer PJ's and soft socks.

DH got the Endoscopy and Colonoscopy scheduled for me. That is the last of the big stuff. Have a couple little stuff to line up.

I went to the library yesterday and paid for that book I had never been able to find. Grrrr ~ how could a book disappear into thin air like that. Then ~ guess what ~ don't you know ~ I found it this morning. I knew I would probably eventually find it, but thought it would be months later. We were able to get a partial refund. For one day, I think they should have refunded the whole amount.

Hope you all have had a nice day.

It's been a run around day...started at the gym, then came home so dh could shower and off we went again. I had some things to pickup that I had ordered online, did a little browsing for some things we need but are not ready to buy, and went to Costco for lunch and picked up some grocery items there plus looked around. We were tired by the time we got home. I now have Hoisin Chicken in the oven, rice cooking and cabbage ready to stir-fry for dinner. All I got done around the house was daily stuff.

Grandchildren will be arriving soon, so that's all for now.

Gayle, I forgot about that missing book. How much did you have to pay initially? The entire cost of the book? Then you found it. LOL Oh, well, at least you got most of the money back. I have a book to return but every time we go out I forget to take it. I will have to look to see when it's due. They usually send me an email to remind me. Mine is sitting right there o the coffee table but I never think of it until we are passing the road to turn to the library.

I got up way too early this morning. Had some things on my mind and couldn't sleep. Now I just got up from a nap, and probably won't be able to sleep again tonight because of it. I'll probably have to take something. We are going away on Friday and staying until Saturday, so I want to catch up on my sleep before then.

Tomorrow a guy is coming to measure for the garage door to make sure we ordered the right size, and be sure we ordered everything we will need. Then it will be about 28 days til they install it.

Mary, somehow, we lost the sound on our computer. DH is accusing me of deleting something. He goes on here too, but he insists that it was me that did it. I didn't knowingly do it, and I haven't deleted anything for a long time. The first time I noticed it was a couple days ago when you posted a link and when I clicked on it, I didn't get sound. I noticed that there was a red X on the icon for the speaker, but I didn't understand what that meant. I haven't been able to hear the sound on any websites since then, but I kept forgetting to ask DH why. So now I guess we have to do something to get it back, but neither of us know what to do. Any suggestions?

EDIT I am back to say that I googled the problem, followed the directions, and now have my sound back. Now I will go back and listen to the link you gave. It was something about diabetes.

Carol Sue - Can you still see the speaker icon on the lower right side of the task bar (at the bottom)? If so, click on it. It could be that the volume is just turned way down and you can turn it up again.

If it is not there, go to your control panel. Click start, then control panel on right menu that pops up, chose hardware and sound, then choose sound, you can adjust your settings there..sound and others.

However if you do not have anything under sound then it may require a restoring of the software or drivers but I would not want to tell you how to do that other than it is in the device manager under sound. I THINK you can simply uninstall and reinstall but please don't do that yourself unless you know what you're doing. I'd have a tech do that or talk me through it on the phone because I am not sure it is that simple . Some things are but not sure this is.

ETA: I don't know where you saw the x on the icon...on the video or on your computer task bar (usually far right?). Usually a red x on the sound icon simply means your sound is turned off and you can simple click it and turn it on.

Hope this helps.

Mary Sympathy on the constant home repairs. We were fortunate that DH worked till 80 and we were able to get so many upgrades and repairs done. Hope we are able to enjoy living here for a long time. My problem is keeping up with the inside day to day stuff. Once I go outside to "look" I come in exhausted. Can't just look.

The Wake last night for our friend Gene was overflowing with people we know and some we hadn't seen in ages. My friend Joan will be so lonely without him, but as she said "Thanks for praying for Gene all these years, now I"m sure he is safe with the Lord, shift those prayers to me, please."

She and I worked together over a dozen years and had many trips out of town for training that allowed us lots of time to talk. I was able to meet the rest of her family that lives out of our state. Seems I know them even tho I just met them last night.

Today is the Funeral and the Church will be very full. I'm going early, in fact need to leave now.

Mary, the red X was by the speaker icon at the bottom right of my screen. When you put the curser over it, it said that there was no sound driver. I googled and got directions on how to go into the Device Manager, delete and reinstall the driver. In a few minutes, it was corrected. It said there were a lot of things that could cause this. I watched the video you posted with the girl singing about low blood sugar. It was cute! Also, DH can now listen to his music videos. That red X was there for a few days. I didn't know what to do about it and when I was online, DH was either down stairs or on the phone so I would forget to ask him about it. He brought it up when he tried to play music videos, and naturally, he says it was something I did. He said "You deleted the sound driver!" And he said he definitely didn't do it! LOL I am always the one who's wrong.

Love2garden, that's right that your friend is now in God's kingdom and his suffering is over. Many times, friends drift away from a woman after she loses her husband. People just don't know what to say or do. I hope that doesn't happen in the case of this man's wife. She will still need her friends around her.

So glad you were able to get the sound back on, Carol Sue. I thought that was the right thing as I said but would never want to tell someone and be wrong and cause them problems with their computer. I'm sorry I didn't think to tell you where the Device Manager is, but it is great that we can google for info these days, isn't it and I'm glad you found it. I have learned so much from computer techs on the phone in the past so now I usually can fix my own. I bought my last two computers from Costco and got their Costco concierge service with them, rarely need to call them anymore but it is nice knowing they are there and totally free. Sometimes I just call for confirmation that I'm dong the right thing. My dh usually thinks I'm to blame for things too...sometimes I even am..but not always.

Stayed up late making my menu plans last night and need to grocery shop today. We will have the kids again tonight. I'm glad it's the last night as we are both tired. Dh played outside with them a lot last night and that gave me a break after dinner.

Love2 - Glad you were able to reconnect with your friend. She's right she's the one that needs the support now.

Hope you are all doing well.

Mary, when I contact any type of Tech support they get rather annoyed with me because I don't understand a lot of what they're saying. My husband always says "You worked with computers all those years at work" but he doesn't understand that I was not a computer geek, I just did word processing and Excel, a lot of data entry and reports. All you have to know for that is how to sign in and how to type! When we had a problem we were not permitted to try to fix it ourselves. We had to call the computer techs and they would come and fix it or do it remotely. This is all new to me. I have had an Android phone since August 2014 and I still haven't figured out how to do things like get online, etc. I just call and text. The only reason I got the phone in the first place is it was free if you signed up for a 1 year plan, which I would have been paying for anyway. I also have trouble any time I download books to my Nook or Kindle. I do it so infrequently that I forget how and they are both different. It would really be helpful to me if you and I lived close, as you seem to be very knowledgeable about these things, and I could sure use your help!

We are going to have some very hot weather over the weekend. High 80's. That warm for May in PA.

Todays a beautiful day, but I've just stayed home, didn't even go outside. This morning the dog was whiny because her "daddy" was here but busy with other things and she kept wanting to be in then out ...I was achy and definitely not in the mood for her but she kept me busy. The guys took a load of tree debris to the dump and then went to help another family member with something. Our son had planned to take her to the park this afternoon but ended up not taking her for good reasons but I was kinda disappointed at the time. However after he left she settled down and was a good doggie. Then when dh worked outside she got to go out too and was happy out there. She just doesn't like to be out alone. We were invited to join our son at the park for dinner tonight but neither of us felt like going. I'm fixing a vegetarian dish tonight that we have liked in the past and hopefully will again. I got my first ten min in on the bike but we didn't go to the gym... dh says he stayed home because of the yard work but actually I thought it was sat (as our son was home) and just forgot! Too bad I actually got a good sleep last night, even though woke up achy and have ached all day but maybe if I'd gone to the gym it would have helped. So I hope to do 20 more min on the bike tonight. When my legs hurt I have to force myself to do even ten min, but watching TV really helps.

Carol Sue - 80 is getting pretty warm. I think it was about 72 today here, don't know about tomorrow. I understand about the technology, but think you are doing pretty good to understand what you found on Google and fix it.
Mostly people are intimidated by computers...get past that and you can do it.
I have to admit I'm not as good with my phone or iPad. Seems like the smaller they are the less I like to work with them. I do download books to my devices...phone, iPad and Kindle all the time. Just click on a button online. I like all the options on Android phones but sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed by them too...what good are they if I forget they are there? I have loved computers from the first time I saw a PC though. My son and dil told me I should get one but even though I wanted one I couldn't imagine what I'd use it for and figured it was a waste of money! That was probably around 1988-1990. By 1991 I was promoted to a mostly office job and needed to use one. It was like you said, data entry...but I quickly figured out how to use a program that was already in the computer (though never used before) to make the entries easier ..I just had to set up the code system and took off with it...enter the code and up would come what I wanted to enter. It was great, but sadly after I left the job, I heard no one used it. Too bad. But anyway once I got that job, I wanted a computer at home, and soon got one...and I've had a lot of computers since then. Sorry you've had trouble with techs, but actually back in those early days the techs weren't nearly as people friendly as they are now. Those were dial-up days which was often a hassle and I didn't have a clue what the techs were talking about too! But I just kept calling and I'd try to make notes and eventually it began to make more sense. I messed up a lot though and learned mostly by trial and error. I used to love (ok, I still do really) to go into the computer/software stores and talk to the young techies (mostly boys then) because they were the only people I knew who liked to talk computers. Peopl my age sure didn't...and mostly that's still true! At 72 I'm still kind of odd in most crowds of people around my age but there are a few more now.

So that's my computer history..

BTW, unless your Android phone is different than most...you should be able to get online simply by clicking on the browser just like on your PC. You probably should go into settings though and set it for your wi-fi if you have it at home. That way you won't be using your data plan when you are home. Away from home there are occasionally (more and more these days) where you can access free wifi but otherwise will be using your data plan when online with your phone. Again in the settings you can choose to get popups to tell you when there is wifi in the area you are in and if they are unlocked you can use them.