Trying something different to see if it helps with me not to get those dreaded "not logged in " messages. Now my screen in jumping all over the place.

Afternoon all. I had a meeting that lasted all morning and then a lunch afterwards. It all went well.

Happy – I hope the appraisal went well.--- You are busy as all get out! Good to opt for sleep over yoga - your body does a lot of important stuff while you’re sleeping! --- Hope today is still a “stay home” day for you and you’re enjoying it.

Ceejay – I suppose if one BP med does well in lowering one of the numbers and not the other, you might need a different one to address the issue.—Good you’re cutting back on the driving. Safer and saves mileage on your car! --What are you using for internet service now?

Annie – Things are just calmer when the boss is out of the office. I’m happy right now because two department members will be out next week, the boss for three days, the other the whole week, and then the following week, the boss will be on vacation. And I don’t expect to have anything from him the rest of the afternoon because he’s busy preparing to be out of the office. ---Sorry Michael’s got a UTI on top of his other health issues. And poor Jacob. Hope they both are feeling better soon.

Hellos to the rest of you! Have a great weekend!
==
Our dryer and the pedestals for the washer/dryer were delivered & installed today! At long last! Bf texted me a photo today of the new setup. He had the dryer placed on the right and the washer on the left so their doors open so that moving clothes from the washer to the dryer is easy. The old setup was an old worktable with a bunch of cubbies sitting between the two machines. That didn’t really bother me, but the new setup will be more efficient. There was an additional amount to pay (the details of which I don’t know), but bf didn’t pay it because he’ll be talking to a manager to get the amount reduced for all the inconvenience.

Tomorrow I’m having breakfast with a former co-worker, and I’m having dinner with my friend D. That’s about it for weekend plans. I’ll also do my state tax return. It’s gonna be chilly tomorrow, so I guess I’ll be tackling some indoor tasks. On Sunday I’m going to make a pot roast in the slow cooker.

Okay, finally gonna get this posted. Cya.

Morning all.

Not a lot to report around here. We've had a feed of beans out of the garden, and yesterday saw us cooking up some morning and afternoon tea for the guys going out to work on fencing the 20 acre block. (That's DS2 and the ODDU). I took the dog for a walk and did a bit of gardening and some shopping. As I said, not much doing here at the moment.

I'm going out to dinner with friends tonight and if I have one or two too many drinks, I may stay over - apparently it is Margarita night and Margarita cheesecake. So that should be fun. Will be compensation for that crazy online induction I have had to do for this job. 70 pages of it. Ugghhh.

Happy - why is an appraiser coming to the house? Are you thinking of selling?

Annie - Yikes on the dreaded reports. Who changed things and why?
Poor little boy with his red ears and coughs and colds. Always so hard when they are little.
Sorry to hear about Michael and his new problems. Poor guy.

Ceejay - Don't know about the ODDU missing me. If his 'dad' is around the rest of us don't count anyway. He has his pack well sorted out.
Do you have to pay extra for WI-FI over there? Here it just comes with your machine and you can choose to use it or not. The Internet access costs.

Laura - Yep it is certainly different with roomies around the place. Dog doesn't care where I put things or how I wash them. He just gets on with living and the joy of such. He's pretty easy going unless he gets and idea in his head and then you need dynamite to shift it. The others are annoying since they seem to have problems putting things away and cleaning up after themselves. Washing gets put in the nearest basket in the laundry but not necessarily the laundry basket. Just whatever is handy - even a bucket will do and you hunt it down. At least it is in the laundry. It gets washed, folded and put down in their bedroom, but doesn't necessarily get put away. Things get left on the counter tops and not rinsed and put in the bin or back in the cupboard. Etc. Shouldn't whinge, it is good to have them around mostly but I do wish they were somewhat tidier.
Good to hear that the dryer and washer are all complete and up and running. I like the idea of being able to open the washer and shove the clothes straight in the dryer. Good thinking 99. that you are thinking of going out when the b/f goes to the dentist next.

Okay - that is about it. I'd better get breakfast and get on with the day. Garden, lawns, car wash to be done and I didn't do yesterdays housework because I was busy doing other things.

Good morning ladies,

It's nice to finally see the sun shining out there. It's been a pretty gray winter and we are all tired of snowflakes, gray skies and cold. I think we have one more week of cold temps before the weather breaks. Hoping it holds out. I don't know what I did yesterday but it involved too much sitting around. I did notice I sit too much. Maybe that's why I always feel stiff and achy. My vertigo is coming back - it seems to arrive with the spring sinuses. I will have to dig out my paper reference guide for doing the "crystals reset" and get DH to help me with it before I get really bad. We have a bit of a quiet weekend planned. I am going to head out after this and stop at the monthly farmers market and pick up some eggs. I think I will skip the meat this time, my freezer is jammed, not sure I could get anything more into it. I did get 2 really great cookbooks from WW this week. One of regular meals and one that is about fruits and vegetables. The front pages are a really nice reference for individual fruits and vegetables. Tells you when the fruit/veg is in season, what good for you stuff is in it, how to serve it and what to do before it gets too overripe. They are both interesting books. I had a tiny loss this week - I was glad because it was unexpected as I was not tight on my planning nor was a tracking. I do find that in the back of my mind I am always conscious of what I am eating without being a nag about it. Last night I wanted something sweet and found a bag of dark chocolate covered blueberries. I had a small handful and while there were ok, I was surprised that I just didn't want any more of them. That was a change in behavior. A welcome one. I do find myself craving more savory.

Shad - 70 pages of a job application/orientation???? Why all the commotion? I does seem there is a lot of "red tape" as they say involved with your work - is that just the nature of how things work? I hope you had a relaxing evening that was well earned. What sort of beans did you harvest? It's interesting that DS and partner are of the same "relaxed " housekeeping style. Usually people are opposites about that or one tolerates the other for a bit. Has to be hard to just overlook living with someone whose style is not as refined as yours. To your question, no we are not selling. Debated it for a short time, thought about buying land and building the last house more in line with what we wanted - single level, spa bath, big kitchen, lots of land, etc. Decided it would take too much money and sometimes it is difficult to sell things here although homes are easier to sell than businesses. We also factored in our own experience of having difficulty getting contractors to commit and get work done on time. Plus do you sell your existing house first to get the cash and then where do you live while building or take the money out of savings and deplete everything and then have the burden of 2 houses until you can sell the first? We decided it was too risky for us old folks so instead we will fix up this place. Rather than take the money out of retirement savings to pay for the renovations - and pay a hefty tax bite on the withdrawal - we decided to just take out a loan using the house as collateral. That's why the appraisal - the bank wants to make sure we are not asking for more money than our house is worth. Not by any means Mr. Banker. I just know the house will be worth more once we get the siding, new deck, new stairs, new doors, new 3 season room and the already new roof factored in. So this is a "throw away" proposal. Maybe not so bad after all because a lower appraisal keeps our property taxes down So... sorry a lengthy answer to a simple question. ODDU sounds rather spunky - like a husky would be. Are shepards usually that rambunctious or is he just still a frisky puppy?

Laura - yay that you FINALLY got the washer/dryer all set up and running. Yes, it's a lot easier to just lean over / into the washer and toss the clothes an arm's length over into the dryer. I hope they are wonderful and worth all of the hassles you've had to deal with. I am still very interested in that "steam" option although we have some kind of "refresh" thing on ours that uses a bottle of water in the dryer and I have to admit I have never really used it - it might be something for the upper dryer cabinet. I would hope a steam option might be able to gently take the wrinkles out of work dressy jackets that had to be dry cleaned. Not that I have to worry about that any more myself Just curious as we will be shopping for a new washer and dryer in a couple of years. Oh happy day that the execs will be travelling and out of the office. Will it be some kick back time or just the ability to get to your own projects uninterrupted? Yum ... pot roast sounds just delicious for a cool weather meal. I should dig one out of the freezer too.

Ceejay - I have seen this "log in" issue in the past a couple of times here and no matter how much they say it's on our side it seems to last until all of a sudden one day I notice it doesn't happen any more. I'll let you know if I notice it. I hope your cramping went away and that you are feeling better. Isn't it wonderful to have the windows open and a little fresh air coming through? Even with the pollen

Annie - I am sorry to hear about M's issues. Is this because his immune system is compromised and he is more apt to be sensitive to germs and bacteria? Poor Jacob - not having kids I don't know much but it does seem the poor ones really struggle the first few years of life with coughs and earaches and such. Has to be hard - just comfort them the best you can. Ack on them changing the system where you pull data from but that's what they do. Never test the interfacing systems - let them figure it out. Expect more pain next month as they make "improvements" Hope you don't run your shoes off trying to cram everything into the weekend. Stop and take at least an hour for yourself.

Hello to the rest of the chicks. I have to get out of here before they sell my eggs at the market. The lady is out of town and her husband is running the stand today and he's just "out of his element" with this. I'd better bring cash because he has a really had time processing the credit card on his cell phone.

Have a good weekend everyone.

still a problem with the logins but at least I didn't lose my post

Morning,
Someone has been playing with the work computer and made the cursor dark. Oh well.

Not a lot going on at my house. I tried to do some cleaning but honestly didn't feel like it. I know I should not have diagnosed myself but I did and took some antibiotics that I had from before. It has helped tremendously. I may start cramping again and if I do I will deal with it. Think this is a bladder infection and the doctor didn't give me enough antibiotics to get rid of it.
Came into work this morning and made my rounds. I wasn't to happy at what I found in the lime room. It looked like neither shift yesterday washed out the pipe. It was full of lime and about to run over. I also told my co-worker who will supposedly taking my spot when I retire that I would be doing pump surveys. She usually wants to help but I didn't find anything that showed se did any thing. I got a feeling that my boss will end up doing all this.
The azaela's and dogwood are in bloom this week and my what a show.

Happy
I've had cravings this week for chocolate, Suzy Q's. They don't make them as big as they used to and not nearly as sweet so I was a happy camper. I did eat more than I should have.

Lord give me strength. Michael has been in the hospital since Friday night. The pain meds have created a blockage and is constipated. Too painful to endure. My heart is breaking for him. He doesn't want any visitors at the hospital as he is in and out of sleep and writhing around in pain. I have to abide by his wishes but it is just tearing me a part.

Quick hello ladies,

Oh Annie - I am so sorry to hear about your brother Michael I have heard that strong pain medications can cause that problem. I really hope it is not getting to that point where one thing just messes up another. How difficult it must be for you to sit there and pretend it to be just a normal day... Call on your faith to bring him some relief and comfort. I wish there was more of an answer...

Ceejay - you made me sad when I saw that you are self medicating. There are different drugs for different infections what you are taking might not be the right thing for your situation if indeed, antibiotics would be needed... - and then there's that whole resistance to antibiotics thing. Plus you should never have left over antibiotics - that means you didn't take the full course of treatment at some time. I am going to put you in a room with my cousin's wife who gets stuff from Mexico I miss the beauty of the azaleas in bloom in the spring.

I have to get ready for an all day art class - drawing flowers. Right now snow flakes are flying in the air. It doesn't seem like we should be drawing flowers.

I need to figure out something easy to take for lunch and then jump in the shower if I'm going to get there on time. It's a very popular class and I need to get there early to get a decent seat otherwise I will be stuck next to the 94 year old man who is deaf as a doornail and I'll have to keep shouting instructions at him from the teacher

Later ladies...

A couple of pictures of a park that was down the street from where I lived in Memphis when the azaleas were in bloom. These pictures don't begin to capture the beauty. Or the sneezes from the pollen

I hope this post takes...

Beautiful pictures Happy. I understand about the self medicating part. And I have no excuse but to blame myself. Not enough water intake. II do have an appointment with my doctor next week. Had one this week but had to change it due to the fact that I'm having to fill in for my co-worker while she is out for vacation.
Have a good day at drawing class.

Annie
My heart goes out to you in dealing with this situation with your brother.

------
Thought I would come in here early as the thunder and lightening is about to begin. Talked to my Missouri sibling yesterday. Things are beginning to come together. I'm getting more excited about the move and retirement. the thunder boomers are here.

Morning all.

Shad – Fencing the 20 acre block??!! That’s a lot of fencing. How was Margarita night? At dinner Saturday, my friend ordered a Corona-rita – a margarita with a tiny bottle of Corona beer placed upside down in it. I don’t understand mixing beer with a margarita... LOL re your order in the pack. Same around here. Yeh, I know there are worse things than an untidy housemate, but certain things drive me crazy. Not emptying the dishwasher and so the dirty dishes pile up in the sink. One of many…. Grrr.

Happy – Sorry your vertigo is returning. I hope it doesn’t get bad and disappears quickly. --- Same here - our freezer has plenty of food in it, and so we will not be buying any meat for a while. ---I’ll let you know how the new dryer’s steam function works. Didn’t do any laundry at all this past weekend. ---I'll have plenty to do this week without the boss around, it’ll just be a more relaxed time. ---Enjoy your art class today! ---Didn’t see the pics.

Annie – So sorry about M’s situation.

Ceejay – I bet the azaleas are beautiful! Hope you’re feeling better. It’ll at least be easier to schedule doctor appointments once you’re retired!

Hellos to Susie, Michelle & Dee.

==

Can’t remember Friday night. Must have been nothing special... Saturday bf and I had breakfast with a former co-worker of mine. He is not enjoying the current work environment (too much political correctness and too little work ethic) and is itchy to retire. He's a bachelor (58 yrs old) with a somewhat modest lifestyle, so he's thinking of accessing his retirement funds when he’s 59 ½. Of course medical insurance costs are the snag in the plan…

Back at home, I filed my state taxes. Not without some hassle. After I hit “submit” a page with my confirmation number popped up, but when I tried to print, I got nothing. Unbeknownst to me, a pop-up had been blocked. I somehow lost the screen with the confirmation number and then spent too much time trying to retrieve it. Frustrating, but I finally did get it.

I also spent some time in the home office purging some more paperwork. Later in the afternoon I walked doggy. Then I picked up a dvd from the library and stopped at the produce market for some veggies for the pot roast. From there I met my friend D for dinner. Our original plan, a Mexican restaurant, turned out to be loud and crowded. We ended up at a place that had a bit of everything and was quieter. We had a nice time.

On Sunday morning I did all the prep for the pot roast and got it going in the slow cooker. Didn’t do much else besides going to lunch and walking the dog. The pot roast was disappointing – the meat wasn’t all that flavorful, and after all that time cooking, it wasn’t as tender as I would have expected. Bf said from now on he’ll buy the roast from the butcher. That'll be a while from now - we're going to use up all the stuff in the freezer first.

I got up and did a BE workout this morning.

I forgot my cell phone charger at home and my battery is low. I might buy a charger at lunchtime – I’m tired of having to remember to bring it with me all the time.

Tonight I’ll watch the dvd I got from the library. It’s the movie “Brooklyn”, a 1950’s love story involving an Irish immigrant.

That’s it for me. Cya later.

Hi Everyone, seems that time and days got away from me after I got over the stomach flu and fever and went back to work.

I am feeling much better this week. I ended up losing a total of 10 lbs by Wednesday last week! At TOPS on Thursday night I showed a loss of 4.5 lbs. I am glad that it wasn't the whole 10 lbs because i was sure there would be a regain this coming Thursday.

This was the first Saturday since early February that we didn't have anything planned to do. It was so nice to be home and just do things around there at our leisure. You would all be very proud of me, even through I was out on Monday and didn't work at all and then Tuesday worked from; I didn't work any OT last week.

I will a bit this week as we have a Department meeting next Monday afternoon, so I"m putting the slides together to get to my manager by COB Wed so he can review and I can make any changes he wants.

I am really looking forward to summer! Music is my thing and I'm excited as I have 4 concerts lined up. One in May--Vince Gill (DH and I are going), two in July-Zack Brown (DH and I are going and the one I'm most excited about; I'm going with my BFF--Romantics, Night Ranger and Rick Springfield!!!! The in Aug, again with my BFF to see the Goo-Goo Dolls. Also in my town we have "Party at the Mural the 3rd Friday of the month" with live bands and food vendors. Family's come and everyone eats, talks, dances...it is a lot of fun.

Shad: Sorry to hear the BP is up. Adding some exercise might be helpful but I think you walk a lot already. When does the new job start? How far will you be from home? How was margarita night?

Annie: I'm so sorry to hear about your brother and his issues with health right now. I am praying for God to give him some physical relief and you emotional relief.

I didn't know that your ankle was still bothering you so much. I understand why you wouldn't want to do KI. I liked Laura's idea of a non KI get together as well.

Laura: I put my winter coat back on Thursday night! I heard that by this weekend we are to be in the 70's! I am happy to hear that they washer and dryer are now installed and working. I need to get back to my morning workout. It felt like it gave me more energy too. I am going to start back tomorrow morning, now that I'm over that flu. I'm not putting it off one more day!

Ceejay: You are getting rid of wi-fi? I take it you have a desktop computer or a lap top that you will plug into the lan?

Happy: I sure hope you nip that vertigo in the bud! Good for you for having a loss at WW no matter how small it was. It went in the right direction.

Hi to Michelle and Dee!

I best get to working on some PowerPoint slides. I promised myself I would work on them until 7:30 and then clean my bathroom as I didn't get to it this weekend.

Morning All.

Good News...Michael had a "break through" The bowel blockage is gone and he is moving again. He has NO pain. Thank you for the good thoughts and prayers as they obviously are working! Amen.

SUSIE...yes, my ankle is really teeing me off. It hurts constantly. Afraid I may have to do something more serious with it but don't want to as I know surgery does not always fix things. Very hesitant. It is nice not to have anything to do on the weekend but piddle around the house. A type of peace with that. Glad you are feeling better and a WL is a WL. Take it.

LAURA...my taxes are done, Feds are filed and mailed. State is sitting on the desk waiting for the last minute mailing. Just hate giving them any money sooner than I have too. Funny taxes were supposed to be temporary. Hahaha. That must of been on nasty pot roast because I think a slow cooker can make anything tender and taste great. Sis had us over for dinner the other night and she made a pork loin with taters and carrots in the slow cooker, it was delish.

HAPPY...I mailed you yesterday the alignment of crystals paper just in case you cannot find yours. I don't have a freezer anymore just my fridge freezer. Can't say I really miss it either. Too much stuff got overlooked and forgotten then tossed. I am back to just having a few of several meats in the freezer to work with.

Hello to the rest of you, I forget the prior page stuff and no time to go back.

Have a great day!

BTW...my new roof is being put on at home as I type. YEah!!

Good morning chicks,

Art class was fun yesterday although there were too many people in the class in my opinion. The way they had the tables arranged, I was between 2 sets which only gave me a shoulder's worth of space to work in compared to everyone else who had twice the width of their bodies. There was hardly enough room to draw, much less set down your supplies or a cup of her most famous and delicious raspberry tea. But the ladies on either side of me were very nice and they let me share a bit of their space even though there was a gap between the tables on either side of me. The teacher is great fun, her classes are always filled and I was in the class with the "groupies" - the ones who take every class she offers. I did mat one of my pieces, DH was very complimentary of it. After class we ran into town and ordered the hot tub. The owner was giving us a line of b.s. which was starting to annoy me but DH didn't notice it. I guess it was just "guy talk" I came home and was hoping DH would be amenable to going out to dinner but he didn't pick up on the hint so I just cooked up some mushrooms and green bell peppers (seperately as neither of us likes the others veg) and then cut up some of the left over prime rib beef roast we had. I had some frozen containers of Portillo's beef gravy and dumped it in and warmed the meat up. Served it on a bun with some frozen french fries I baked in the oven. Shew-wee as Annie would say - I don't know if it was those cooked mushrooms but dang, that was a goooood sandwich! I could have had an extra half but let DH take the rest of the meat for his second sandwich although there was plenty to share as he would have been most willing to do. I have to figure out something to make for supper tonight as I won't get home from the thrift shop until around supper time. I do have a pot roast which I guess DH could put in the oven and slow roast for me although that is very close in taste to our beef sandwiches last night. I usually try to mix things up. Maybe I will have the salmon I have defrosting in the refrigerator and I could give DH some spaghetti. Sorry... thinking out loud here. I do need to get to the store and pick up some fresh fruit and vegetables. I have not been all that on track with WW this week although I did take a Lean Cuisine for lunch yesterday. I would say I'm following it about 75 percent as I really don't have an interest in eating the bad stuff. I've been running around and not doing my exercises which like this morning, pain is returning and poking me in the knee and hip as a not too pleasant reminder to get with the program. In other news, it's supposed to warm up after tomorrow FINALLY at least for the next 10 days when we are caught up in some Omega system that is pulling warmer air up this way. Go Omega!!!

Susie - wow - great loss! I take it that some of this was the result of the stomach flu tho - bummer way to lose. But glad you are feeling better now. What a fun summer you're going to have dancing the night away. How great to have something to antipate - are these outdoor concerts? Will you do a pre-concert tailgate party? Good luck with getting all the slides arranged.

Laura - yes, that darn medical insurance is the bane of many an early retiree's dream. We wound up draining our retiree medical savings plans but it was the only way we could swing it and with both of us getting bounced from our jobs with limited prospects, we had little choice. I was hoping that money could pay for 10 years of medicare premiums post retirement but not to be with the horrific rates were are being gouged on. It's just good that medicare is a lesser premium than private insurance. I hope your friend can soldier through his situation. Sorry the roast didn't work out - I hate when that happens, especially when the raw meat looked well marbled enough like it should be a tasty hunk. How was the movie - I vaguely remember seeing trailers for it. I see they finally released the movie Joy but right now it's only available for purchase not rental.

Shad - did they get that area fenced in properly? How was the margarita cheesecake?

Ceejay - are you feeling better now? Do you get sneezes or allergies from everything in bloom and all the pollen? I'm glad to hear you are settling into the idea of retirement. It can be fun. Just is a big change in life after working forever.

Hi to Michelle and Dee

I'd best get booking here. We were supposed to stop at Walmart to pick up a wireless keyboard for the shop's computer and I need to make a list of what I want to pick up too. Have a good day everyone.

Annie - so glad to see that Michael has gotten past this bump in the road Gosh it's a roller coaster of emotions, isn't it? Just keep thinking good thoughts and try and keep your sanity. Thank you very much for your beautiful card I got yesterday. Very much appreciated. Thank you too for sending the crystal rest movement - how did you know I was wondering where I filed that? One of my coworkers is struggling with ankle problems. He does not want to do the surgery as it is many weeks of no weight bearing movement at all and that he claims is scaring him. However as each week goes by he gets more hobbled up and it is already undoing whatever good he got out of his recent knee surgery. So.. while not to be a downer, maybe you want to give some thought to your foot before it gets unmanagable - unless of course, that's what the surgeon suggests. Then again, I am not too keen on surgeons myself. I hope you get some relief or don't have to run around too much today.