Morning
Nothing new to report.

Morning all. More rain coming our way today. In fact I had bf drive me to the train station this morning because I was running late and it was already raining. Bf just managed to get the lawn mowed yesterday, but he did get some light rain during part of the job. This morning our neighbor was out there in the rain mowing the lawn. Ugh. He must have taken the day off work today - sure hope he has something more pressing and/or fun on the agenda in addition to mowing the lawn in the rain. Bf teases him all the time about how miserable he looks when he's mowing, lol. Most people would just look focused/concentrating when they're mowing, but J. just has this look of pure misery on his face. C'mon, it's not that bad...but I'm glad I don't have to do it.

Annie - Sounds like yesterday was something of a comfort to you?? I hope so. Yeh, there will be a lot of milestones coming up that will heighten the loss of your dad, but you're strong and will get through them. Nice you'll go on with the b-day buffet plan, it'll be good for you and the family to celebrate him. And then there's Father's Day... Hang in there, we're here for you!!

Happy - You're a good person to volunteer at that place. Me, I don't think I could put up with those idiots and their petty BS. What makes them think this shop is substantially different than other retail enterprises?? No sales or markdowns???!!! Anyway, I'm glad they're not all idiots and that you've met some nice people and that you enjoy the type of work you're doing. Just keep remembering the charitable purpose of the place and hopefully that'll get you through some of the trying moments. Re Jazzercise, 45 min. is cardio - the dance routines. 15 min is strength, and that's what we bring the weights for. Re the park district's recplex, I'm not signed up right now for a punchcard nor any separately offered/paid classes (which is what the kettlebell class was). We'll see how just Jazzercise classes go for now.

Michelle - Scary about the complication with the birth!!! I'm so glad all went well and you must all be so very thankful!!!! I don't know much of anything about Curves, but it sounds like a circuit setting - is that right? I have trouble envisioning how they work Zumba into that...let us know if you go there for a trial class. Thanks for my I needed it! Still struggling a bit, but not totally off-course. Some of the new habits are still sticking. Scale is down a bit from the last couple days.

Ceejay - I'm sure they do the inspections on your shift because your the most experienced and knowledgeable one there. Nice countdown!!! Did you download one of those online countdown clocks so you can see it all the time?? So it's your weekend - have a great weekend!!!
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Nothing much going on here. This gloomy weather is a downer. Oh well, better than having a drought.

They've announced they're offering ww at work again. If they get 20 people to sign up it'll be offered at the same rate as before. And they'll again reimburse us 50% of that if we attend 14 of 17 meetings. Wonder when I get the 50% for this session?? I think the current session ends next week or the following week.

Dug up and cleaned off my nice exercise mat last night. It was in the back of the closet and had picked up a good amount of dog hair and dust. Dog hair finds its way everwhere!! I also brought out my wheelie backpack. Last time I used it was for Jazzercise classes because I was bringing a couple different sets of dumbbells to class. Tonight I'm just bringing my 5's and hopefully that suffices.

My co-worker and I just agreed we were both going to skip an industry function that we'd previously registered for this afternoon. I've decided I'm not interested enough in the topic to bother and my co-worker wants to be able to finish some projects and take tomorrow off work.

Okay, back to work.

Morning all,

Happy un-birthday Laura

Annie - glad that Dad looked peaceful at rest. Take all the time you need to accept and move on. I understand how you feel - I too have a hard time giving up on things, especially the important things. I will listen to you now and you can lend back the shoulder when I lose my beloved Mom

The classmate I met at the thrift shop told me that she's been widowed twice. She was recently married for a third time - said she did not want to remarry but new hubby insisted. She told him - don't you DARE go dying ahead of me, I can't take any more. I can only imagine... we did not get to discuss the details of her prior relationships so I don't know what happened but it had to be awful.

Ceejay - you need one of those big countdown aps / clocks on your computer that counts down the days to retirement 2 years will go by in a flash - that I promise. It's been a little over 2 years since we bought this house and I swear it passed in the blink of an eye. Locals said we will not be considered a native here until we pass our 10th winter I would say that 2 years kicks into gear starting to do everything you need to plan for the big day including starting to cull out the stuff you won't want to take with you, get very tight with your spending money and start thinking about things like budget, insurance options and the like. Will make for a much easier transition.

It rained like the dickens yesterday. We watched Lake Happy build up on the driveway. I took my yet to be potted plants out of the greenhouse to give them a good drink of water and took them back in last night because I wasn't sure how low the temps would dip. Got soaked both times. I opted not to go out yesterday so I finished the book I was reading, made a nice dinner and emptied out some junk emails from my accounts. Today I have errands to run and it appears that Mr. Washmore has risen up overnight and is about to peak

Hit the enter key too soon and my post posted before I was quite done. Guess it's nature's way of telling me to get off the computer At least I didn't lose it.

Seems like a quiet day for all the ladies. Hope you have a nice one. Later chicks...

I see Laura and I were typing over each other again. Thanks for the kind words - the one thing that brings everyone together at the thrift shop is the work for the Humane Society. For that reason, a lot of people do what I do - come in, do their part and ignore the drama. I am slowly learning not to try and "fix" things or make them better than when I first encountered them. This is quite difficult because as a former manager and a people pleaser (yes, you might find that hard to believe as cranky as I can be sometimes) - it's my nature to try and do something if there is an issue. I used to think that putting blinders on was equivalent to copping out - .ie if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem. I should write a book on life's hard lessons- Chapter 1 - You're better off keeping to yourself, Chapter 2 - One Day You Will Wake Up Old and it will take some time before you realize that you have fallen out of the circle of "those who are cool" and moved into the section of "geez what a pompous windbag", Chapter 3 - You Know You Are Old when you disagree with just about everything people 10 years and younger than you do

Anyhow I sure did get off topic. That's nice that the company underwrites part of the WW cost. I think that's money well spent on their part for encouraging healthy living. The only thing - and I'm not sure if they will do this - but the rebate might be considered taxable income to you so you are in effect actually getting less than 50 percent back. They did the same at my company - there were healthy living incentives and if you followed them you got a small amount rebated on your insurance premium. Was shocked to see they included that on the paycheck each quarter. But they said the IRS rules dictated that was income (by a broad stretch of the term). Just sayin... however I know how much the WW at Work programs cost so even a 40 percent return is welcome money.

Good morning ladies!

Yesterday after work, I checked out Curves. They had me sit through a video touting the benefits of their 3 pronged approach (exercise, diet plan and motivation). At the end of the video, a price of $299 flashed on the screen for a second or two. Apparently it's $299 for 90 days (and it doesn't come with pre-packaged food just a personalized meal plan). Then the "trainer" showed me the circuit. A couple things I don't like: (1) the "cardio pads" which are every other station...you do your own cardio while others are on the strength-training machines; (2) the strength training machines that you're on for 30 seconds are not adjustable to your height and the resistance is hydraulic...so not adjustable at all. So, overall I'm not impressed. What did impress me was that I could do most of the strength training machines without hurting my back. They do offer Zumba classes on Monday evenings and Saturday and Sunday mornings, and they cost extra. I got a free one-week pass out of the deal. I'm not going to get there until Saturday though. Today, I'm running on empty in terms of energy as I didn't fall asleep until nearly midnight last night...and I did not enjoy the alarm going off at 5:30 this morning. And tomorrow night I have a date with the same guy...we're going to a baseball game. I don't know if this is going to go anywhere, but it's nice to get out. On Saturday morning, I'll do the Zumba class, and then I'm getting together with friends.

Back to Curves...if it is, in fact, $299 for 3 months, then WW and a gym membership would be a much cheaper deal.

=================
Annie - I'm glad you're feeling more at peace. Please, never, ever feel like you're boring us or being too emotional. You can't rush the grieving process. We are here for you, sister. We love you too. You couldn't sleep either? At least you have a reason. We should've called each other.

Laura - Crazy about your neighbor mowing in the rain. Glad your bf got the job done without getting too wet. Good for you for getting back on track. That's way cool that your company reimburses you 50% if you attend WW at Work. So cool you have a wheelie backpack to take your stuff to Jazzercise!

Happy - So sad about your classmate being widowed twice. I can understand why she said that to her new hubby. I've been divorced twice, and that's why I don't know if I'll ever marry again...don't want to be 3 times divorced. I know, bad attitude. Hard to believe it's been over 2 years since you bought your house. Wow!

to Ceejay, Shad and Mel!

Much love and many hugs,

Evening all.
Not a lot to report today really. I've been doing good deeds for people. Taking one to the doctor, one to the vet and cat sitting the DS2's little kitten for the weekend. This has not made me popular with the Miss Puss.

Laura - sorry I gave you too much cake for your non birthday. All Mels fault. She is usually pretty much on the ball with all our birthdays.
Sounds like your neighbour needs artificial grass if mowing makes him that miserable.

Annie - so glad that your service for your dad went off okay. Interesting that he looked happy. My mum was the same. She seemed to have a smile on her face.

Happy - interesting about your friend and the three husbands. I too have a friend who has had 2 husbands die on her. I don't know if she is interested in any more. Personally I think I would have given up even thinking about it after the first.
Glad to hear that someone else has Mt Washmore. I think mine erupted last week. Maybe some of it blew across to your place

Michelle - 299 for 90 days. That's 3.33 per day which is not too bad if you go everyday. But quite frankly it doesn't work that way. You have to have some time off to allow the body to recover. If you don't, you get injuries and muscle pain not to mention chronic tiredness.

My house smells of roses - well two varieties of roses anyway. Mr Lincoln and Fragrant Plum. They have the most beautiful scents. By tomorrow they will be joined by Jude the Obscure who will probably out scent the other two. The rose garden is doing quite well considering I haven't given it much attention recently and it is getting a bit overgrown and I need to take out some of the bulbs and cut back the ground cover which is taking over everywhere. Maybe tomorrow I will get to that.

So time to watch Alan Titchmarsh's garden program on tv and then bed. I love looking at these beautiful British gardens. Tonight he is showing us Hatfield House - something to do with Queen Elizabeth 1 back in 1594 I think. According to Wikipedia it was built in 1497. Anyway, the garden is very formal and lots of hedges and parterres. Not what I grow in a garden, but it is definitely beautiful - if you like that sort of thing.

Shad - Good on ya' for doing the good deeds, even if Miss Puss doesn't approve. I love the smell of flowers, especially roses. When I get my own place, my garden will be full of roses, geraniums and many others. I like to watch the garden programs...but I'm not typically a fan of the overly manicured, overly formal types. I'm tackling my laundry today...now that there's only just me..it's not really Mount Washmore anymore.

I hope all the chicks east of here are okay. Now that I've moved west, I'm almost never the first one here in the morning.

Love and hugs,

Morning all. TGIF!

Shad - Nice of you to be doing good deeds. Is the kitten being kept separate from your cat?? Last year during our big drought there were some stories on the news about people getting their brown lawns sprayed green, and about artificial grasses, which now are available in much more realistic-looking varieties - not just "astroturf". It's heavenly to have nice flower scents in the house. I had a couple vases of peonies from the garden in the house this past week, and I'll cut some more this weekend - the ones that get more shade in our yard are finally blooming. We don't get much sun in our yard, and what we get has the veg garden in it, so I haven't tried to grow roses. A house we pass by when going to the creek has two large very rose bushes in front - very pretty to look at. Not sure if they have any scent though.

Michelle - I like seeing elaborate gardens in beautiful settings, but wouldn't it be hilarious to see a very formal garden in front of my modest little ranch home?? The price seems a little steep for the Curves program. Is there "live" support available too? I don't think I'd be too keen on the hydraulic machines in re to the type of resistance they provide. (I also don't like using the rubber exercise bands either.) I guess you'll find out more when you do your trial.

Happy - Sad about the classmate who's been widowed twice. I agree you can get through that drama at the shop by keeping in mind that everyone is there for a good cause, even if some are idiots. And you get more practice trying not to go into "fixer" mode. Yeh, we've been made aware that the 50% reimbursement on ww is taxable. That's fine by me, the benefit outweighs the extra tax liability.

Ceejay - Did you visit with your cousins yesterday? Hope you had a nice start to your weekend.

Hi Annie!
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Jazzercise was fun yesterday. It was like coming home again - familiar moves and the instructor is still the same crazy person. I got a good sweaty workout. And that reminds me that this particular location isn't air conditioned - hope the summer temps don't get too extreme! The Saturday location has AC though.

Bf and I watched the hockey game and that was about it for last night.

No big plans for this weekend. Jazzercise class on Saturday morning. Otherwise, all my flowering shrubs are done blooming and now I really need to prune them. Not good at pruning, so we'll see what kind of funky shapes I end up with. Good thing the shrubs eventually grow back.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend!

Morning all,

Quiet in here today. Is it Sunday and I got crossed on the days? Geez wouldn't that be nice because I'm pulling a double shift tomorrow at the store (and WHY did I agree to that???) Of course, tomorrow is also going to be the nicest weather we've had in a week. Perhaps that will keep people out on the lake and paths and it won't be too busy being by myself in the morning. I did not realize there was so much laundry to be done. DH had to go for a blood test today and apparently had to dig out some old corduroy pants because he had nothing to wear. Hey, I don't wear his pants - how was I to know? Anyway once I started separating clothes from the hamper, I was surprised at how much was in there. Because of the septic system, I generally don't like to do more than 3 loads a day so as not to overload the septic tank. However we have a big septic tank and I have a ultra low water washer so 3 loads of my washer is probably equivalent to 1 load of a regular large washer's output. I have 6 loads of clothes to wash. Have to decide which 3 are the lucky ones to get done today

I also MUST finish my planting today. I will probably have to go outside and work in my netted jacket - the mosquitos are absolutely horrible. Yesterday I went out to run a bunch of errands and was sitting in the driveway with the car window down talking to DH and this swarm was flying into the car. I finally told DH I had to get out of there.

Michelle - at $100 a month for Curves - that's a pretty steep price. They have a much lower price ($12.95 a week) advertised online for the exercise, food program and coaching - but it also says that's in specific locations. Since that's a franchise, prices may vary but I think you can do better than that. Not sure what they have out by you but when I lived in Chicago they had built this beautiful wellness center affiliated with the hospital. In addition to a gym they had physical therapy, wellness classes and programs - smoking cessation, weight loss, diabetes, cardiac care, etc. It was a really nice place. Might want to see if they have something like that convenient and affordable to you which would give you more bang for your buck.

As for multiple husbands all I noticed is that there's a LOT of women who say one was enough and they are doing just fine on their own It makes me laugh because these old goats run off and pick up a 20 something they can flash on their arm while she spends all their money and they think they are hot and all that and the women they were with are more often than not, glad to be free of them. Viagra contributed to the downfall of society - no stopping them now.

Shad - I can only imagine that Miss Puss is NOT happy to have a younger one in the house with you. Oh the insult. Make sure she does not bury her in the garden! Nice of you to help out with the neighbors. I love the formal gardens too though I've probably never seen a proper British one. However, not having the means for a gardener to keep it alive, I will have to be content with the view of pots from my deck But how nice to have a seated arbor and mounds of lovely flowers, butterflies and birds to look at. Maybe a Zen garden too with a gently trickling water fountain. They have some beautiful ones at the nursery - looks like a grotto of sorts.

I have walked away from here 3 times already - best go get some food in me, flip the first 2 loads of laundry and get outside and finish with those plants. Have a good weekend everyone.

Laura - glad you enjoyed the exercise class - I think it helps more if the instructor is fun as well as intent on leading the class. No a/c in the room? Hope they have some big stand fans! Thank you for your comment about people all being there for a good cause - even the idiots. I am going to remember that when some people get to be a bit much.

Sorry I wasn't here yesterday. Had a good visit with the cousins. I didn't realize how short I was until I was up against them.

I feel the need to get outside and mow my own lawn for a change.

Busy day today...Lots of programming to do for work...I'll probably be working some this weekend too. Going out tonight on a date with the same guy I've seen a few times - a guy I used to date before I met my ex. We'll either go to a baseball game or a movie (if it's too hot to sit at the baseball game). Tomorrow, I'm going to a workshop in the morning and a get together with friends in the afternoon. Santa will be in day care tomorrow. On Sunday, Santa and I are going on a dog walk fundraiser.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Love and hugs,

Hello Ladies...

Found out that they fired my buddy at work on Thursday. Katie was on "steps" for being late all the time. However she had not been late for 3 months. Since we do not have management on site the way they tell is when you sign on to your computer. She had shut down her computer at 9 am one day due to computer problems and rebooted. They took that as her signing in for the first time that day and late. We all could vouch for her, however they came in and fired her when none of use were in the office except her. Just a reason to let her go I suppose. So work will be depressing on Monday. Sheesh. We are down to just 5 of us left in our department. Just a check list before the next of goes. Anyway...

Today was a good day. Spent the day at dad's house clearing out two more closets. My brother and I decided to laugh and yuck it up rather than cry so it went really well....

Got lots of errands to do tomorrow including taking 5 gallon ziplock bags of coins to cash in that was in dad's closet...lol how funny. We are all going out to dinner on it. I am guessing there is about 3-4 hundred dollars in there.

Not sleeping much these days, but really what is new. Sassy sleeps in the chair while I watch TV.

Laura...thank you for the lovely card...and a bird on the front...how appropriate for dad. Thank you for being so sweet.

Love you chickies.

LAURA.....SORRY I SCREWED UP THE BIRTHDAY
THAT IS TOO FUNNY.







MORNING CHICKS
I AM STILL WORKING TODAY.
WE WILL SEE WHAT TOMORROW BRINGS.
THE AUDITORS WERE FRIST AND NOW THE ACCOUNTANTS.
EVERYONE WANTS TO FINISH AND GO HOME.
MOST OF THEM BEGIN THEIR VACATIONS NEXT WEEK.
ALL I AM DOING IS RUNNING BACK AND FORTH.
I GO FROM ONE SIDE OF THE BUILDING TO THE OTHER.
GUESS THEY ARE LAZY THIS YEAR BUT EXTRA CASH IS OK WITH ME.
YESTERDAY I HAD TO USE MY 2ND CHAIR AND RECHARGE THE FIRST.
I HAVEN'T READ ANYTHING YET.
WILL TRY TO CATCH UP LATE TOMORROW OR MONDAY.
IN THE MEANTIME STAY WELL AND HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND.


SHAD...HOPE YOU GOT THE EMAIL.
SEEMS EVERY TIME WE MAKE A DATE I GET BOGGED DOWN.
BUT AT LEAST THIS TIME IT'S PAYING.
SMALL BEANS BUT BEANS ARE BEANS!! LOL