I was just kidding, Carol Sue, because sometimes my life feels like a drama where things keep happening where dh is concerned esp.. He is better today, I think his cold is almost gone and he seems to be more energetic, but he still coughs now and then. The other thing...the fluid in the pleura sac is my main concern, but he hasn't had any pain for at least 12 hours now. I think the fact that it comes and goes is probably a good sign.

I got two shots yesterday...my flu shot and DPT while waiting for Joe's inhaler. My arm is really sore from the DPT. Should have gotten in the bathtub and soaked it like I used to do the kids when they got theirs. So sleep wasn't so good since I couldn't lay comfortable on either side.

It's raining today, hopfully we will get a nice long one to get our environment back to the way it's meant to be. It's been a long pleasant dry summer, but now its time for true NW weather!

I think I should have gotten the smallest Ninja package, but I will live with it now. Still prefer my old inexpensive blender (Oster) for making my mocha frappes. I did use the Ninja to chop up some carrots and it did pretty well. I also tried it for cucumbers, but they went to almost all mush very quickly. Have to learn how long to pulse..it works very fast. I made a tamale casserole using an old time recipe (1946) but it wasn't very good. Won't make that recipe again.

I gained 2# this week...think a lot of it was salty foods.
Hope you all are having a good day.

Good morning GG's,

I've haven't posted in a while. I was getting stuff ready to go, then went to visit our daughter and her family. I had an iPad along with me so was able to follow along with you all, but it is hard to post from that, so I waited until I got back home.

We had a nice visit. The grandkids are such sweet little ones. The little girl is 5 years old, and the little boy is 18 months. We baked little cup cakes in the easy bake oven, built a lego kit. Went to the zoo and the childrens museum. Visited a historical village. Ran errands ~ groceries, got plants at the garden center, walked around the block. A couple times, I fell asleep in the afternoon/evening out on their screened in porch (my favorite room in the house), when the little one was napping and everyone else was busy doing something. I want one of those ~ LOL. It is nice to be back home though, and slow down for a bit. Our daughter and DH both like to be on the go, so maybe I'll get rested up a little now. Maybe.....I can hope anyway.

Mary ~ Glad your DH is feeling better today. Sorry your arm is sore. Hopefully that will pass soon. Hope you get the rain your area needs. I have an eliptical ~ at first I liked it, but as I aged, it bothered my hips, so I don't use it anymore.

Carol ~ I'm kind of like you ~ hating to get rid of stuff. And, it is a good thing sometimes that I hang onto things, because they still work, and life cycles around and I end up using things again, that I haven't used for a while. Like my food processor ~ it is 30 some years old, I hadn't used it in quite a while, but have a need for it now with our new way of eating ~ and wow ~ as old as it is ~ it still works. Some things, I know I wouldn't be able to find another one like the one I have, so I'm glad I have kept some of the stuff.

Karrine ~ I'm excited for you that your daughter is coming to visit. Enjoy every minute of your time together.

Lynn ~ you are doing wonderfully with your eating and weight loss ~ so close to your goal ~ that's great. Love the pic of your kitty snuggled under the blanket. I used one of those seated elipticals at PT ~ I loved it.

Love2garden ~ you are wonder woman ~ your ability to work out in the yard/gardens the way you do. Glad it was a nice cool day for you while you did it. I too wish we could see pictures of your gardens ~ the descriptions of them ~ they sound beautiful.

Hello Flower and Ms. Hatcher

Hope you all are having a nice day.

Pictures are of the screen porch I mentioned - in the daytime, at dusk and at night.

Went to the pulmonary doc today ...the regular one was out but saw another one. He said the fluid has not increased much since the surgery (primary care doc didn't have access to previous xrays) and since he hasn't had pain for several hours now, we will just wait. If he has more frequent pain, or has more trouble breathing we should get an xray and go in again. After we left dh noticed he was having some "soreness" in the back but not real pain. So that's where it stands for now.

Condo in chaos – wallpaper removed from about 70% of walls. They are off for the weekend. Anticipated day to begin painting is Tuesday. Tomorrow morning I leave for NYC. I LOVE this pope, but REALY hope I manage to avoid his traffic.

Hi Mary,

Although the elliptical is difficult, I believe it is good for me. For right or wrong, I believe that exerting myself forces blood through the corollary arteries. Although I had 1 artery to my heart 100% blocked, it was not causing me real problems because I had built up so many corollary arteries.

I would be happy to help you with your ancestry. If you want, we could schedule a phone meeting. Let me know. I will be away for the weekend, but home most of next week.


Hi Carol,

I am like your DH. I do NOT want to have to learn new operating systems. I use Windows 7 & it works just FINE.

Hi Karine,

I just checked & as of today, I have 14,705 people in my family tree. I also have 9 other trees that I work on (friends, family, and famous people with whom I believe I am related). The first 4 generations back on all lines are well-documented. After that, some information is “firmer” than other information. When I started, I thought I was 100% Irish. At this point, I know that I am no more than 1/8 Irish. Ancestors were from England, Germany, France, Scotland, Holland, and Ireland. I have quite a few interesting “characters” in my tree.

Hi Mary,

This program I am following includes a smoothie every day. I started using a Nutri-Bullet, but my cup was not large enough to hold all the ingredients. (Used to have a larger cup, but got rid of it bc I never used it.) Therefore, I have been making my smoothies in my blender. This makes for a good 10-minute-clean-up. So, I ordered a large cup for the Nutri-Bullet. Came last week – MUCH faster clean-up. Only problem is device seems to be heating up.

Hi Carol,

I am not sure I will ever get back up to 30 min on the elliptical. I set it to “cardio” and it pauses when my heart-rate goes over 135. I don’t stop, but it releases all tension until my heart-rate comes back down. After 6 minutes, I am pretty done-in. I have to sit down & get my breathing back to normal before I can move on to the treadmill.
Do you have any details about this research? Did they offer any theories about why this would be? I started Tai Chi last night. This is VERY slow, but this morning, I was surprised at how still I was. Didn’t feel like I was doing anything exerting while I was doing it.

Hi Gayle,


I LOVE porches. Your's looks very inviting. Do you use it a lot?

Lynn ~ the porch is at my daughter's home in SC where we just visited. I love it ~ it was my favorite room at her house. I wish we had one like it.

Gayle What a BLESSING you were back on your medicine so you could enjoy all the activity at your daughters. No wonder you had a nap in that wonderful screened porch. I remember one in a house we rented - had a swing, too, and was a great pace to rock our first born to sleep (and be careful I didn't nod off, too.

Mary Prayers offered that your DH will be ok and the fluid doesn't build up any more. Do they try to drain it? Why did you get the DPT shot?

Very sleepy and tired with hours watching the Pope Francis in NY then going to garden for several hours in the cool evening. Got to get to bed. Bit sore, but sleep should take care of hat.

Carol I'll catch up with yo and Lynn tomorrow.

Got a fairly good night's sleep last night. Dh isn't coughing as much and although we were on Halo duty it went pretty well. I woke up once and heard dh up and scolding her so apparently she had been barking, but she settled down then until 7:30 when I let her out. She does not wake up because of her bladder...she can go a very long time that way...she just wants to get out and hunt, yet she doesn't want to stay out all night.

Glynn - I too love the closed in porch..in fact just the other day I was thinking perhaps we should do that. Doubt we ever will. We have too many other things that we need done in our old house to do extras. Once we get the entry done, we will start saving for siding. Anyone have any recommendations/experiences on types of siding?

Sandy - As to the pleura effusion, they can drain it, but when I ask the doctor yesterday he referred to surgery and said that they would have to weigh the benefits to his age. At this point dh is still very active. The cold has slowed him down a bit the last few days but last week he worked very hard dethatching the front lawn. Did a lot of it manually which our son said would be very hard even for him to do, and then used our old mower which has a dethatching accessory on it to do the rest. Yesterday all he could do was flatten some cardboard boxes and today he has blown the patio and broke down things (big plastic) for the recycling. He is not one to sit around even when not so well. I know he does not want more surgery though, so will just take it one day at a time. If the fluid stays at the current level it may just ache now and then and he will have to live with it. If it gets worse I thought perhaps they might drain some of it off as they did do that in the hospital after the surgery as doing the surgery actually created some more fluid in there. This is just what I think not what the doctor said.

I got the DPT shot for the whooping cough protection. If you haven't had whooping cough, I can tell you it is awful. I had it as a child and still remember and they say you can get it again. I didn't need tetanus but they said it's ok to get it again and mine was in 2009.

Lynn - I agree about the arteries...the more blood vessels we build up and can keep open the less chance of a fatal heart attack. I'm hoping I can get the eliptical I want...it was last year's model and smaller than the current one. I don't have much room. If I can't get it, then I might get the treadclimber instead. In time I might even sell my recumbent bike and get the eliptical if the bike keeps hurting my knees. My son says though it just means the seat needs adjusting, so going to play around with that first.

As to the genealogy - I appreciate your offer of help, but I have no idea when I'll get to it. Right now I have way too much going on to focus on it. My nephew did a lot on it, and I do have a copy of his work at least.

I have considered the Nutri-bullet and may look at it again when I need something to make my frappes. My current blender works well, and I don't take it apart to wash it, just put in the dishwasher or quickly wash by filling part way with warm water and a drop of dish soap and blending for about 13 sec. Then wipe clean and dry. I do it that way when it is inconvenient to put in the dishwasher. Every now and then I can smell a bad odor in it and then I do take it apart...the rubber band, chopper and cap and give it a more thorough washing. This happens when water or milk gets in there I think. Obviously it would be better to take it apart each time but I don't. I am the only one who uses it and this works for me. It is the Ninja chopper/processor/blender that is more trouble to me. I put it in the dishwasher too but have to put in all the parts and remove them each time. Have to be VERY careful with the blades as they are very sharp! Once I bought the big Ninja blender set and cut my finger on a blade. I returned that set because I didn't feel it was any better for my purposes and I actually didn't like that the blades were so sharp! I will use this Ninja mostly as a chopper and perhaps a food process (rarely) but will only use it as a blender when my current blender gives out. Even then I'll probably look for another like the Nutri-bullet perhaps.

Carol Sue - 30 min on the eliptical is great. I would be totally bored doing it slow for that long though...that's just me. I can't even stand to walk the track very long and I walk fairly briskly...physically I can go two miles outside but walking on the track is way too boring for me even though we have huge windows to look out. I have the same problem on the bike but I have it set at 10, go as fast as I can and the most I have done is 33 min while watching TV. I expected to read while biking like at the gym, but the lighting in our family room is too poor.

Well, need to get to work. I have neglected my house so badly for the last few weeks now.

Good morning ladies,
Well, my daughter and hubby's visit was great. When we went to the country restaurant I was telling you about we all had the rolled ribs with scalloped potatoes; veggies and coleslaw then came back to my place. I was kidding my daughter about being "the inspector" and that I spent 2 days cleaning the house . Well that set her off in a funny tour of the house. Too funny: I didn't clean my kitchen sink well enough and I forgot to dust my lamp shades. We all laughed. They want me to go to their place for Thanksgiving dinner so we'll see. It is only a 2-1/2 hour drive but I hate driving on those big highways.

Carol - I hope you enjoy your grandson's sleepover visit. I think we all tend to clutter up unused spaces until we need them....at least I do too.

Mary - I'm glad your DH has periods of improvement in his health in that it comes and goes and that especially keep a good eye on him. I'll continue to keep him in my prayers.

Gayle - seems that i a few of us ladies who are having family visits. We should all cherish these times especially if it isn't too often. Great pics of your daughter's screen porch. Great for sitting outside when it rains.

Lady in Waiting: I too have wallpaper and how big a mess it is to strip and get all the glue off the walls. Have a good time in NYC. I would love to go there and I've watched the CNN broadcasting on the pope each day. What a warm welcome he is getting. Wow that you have almost 15,000 people in your family tree and that you also do work for others. My tree only has 5,000 in it so far but I do just try to stick to my own family and try not to get side tracked which is so easy to do as I'm sure you know. With each family you have to decide which side to keep researching on. I too, have some very colorful people in my tree and know that my ancestors from Switzerland were once noblemen and we even had our own castle. Of course back in those days there were 100's of castles, most of which have been torn down.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone,
Karrine

Gayle, about a year ago there was a house for sale up the street and I wanted to buy it. It had a screened in porch and the house was all on one floor, no basement. DH did not want to downsize in that way. He has always had a basement and still wants one. I was thinking of the future as we age, and it had a wheel chair handicap accessible shower, which I thought would be good, just in case. It's so hard to make changes to your home if you eventually need these things. I pictured myself sitting out on that screened in porch.

Glad you enjoyed your visit.

Mary, the way I have my exercise room set up I can watch my soaps while I'm exercising, so I don't get bored and before I know it I have gone 20-30 min on each, the treadmill and elliptical without even realizing it. I could be sitting in my recliner watching the shows, or I could be on my exercise equipment. Which is better? Hmmmm?

I guess it would be healthier for me to go faster, but then I would tire out sooner and not be able to exercise as long. I don't know which one is better or if it even matters. When I was younger, like in my 40s I went much faster. I did the treadmill at 4.5 MPH for 45 minutes. Sweating profusely, huffing and puffing. That was before my heart issues started. Maybe if I had kept that up I wouldn't have had the heart issues.

Lynn, the comment about the study was just made during a news report and they didn't give any details about the study. It's one of those things that "anyone can say anything" and who knows if it's really true.

My heart rate doesn't go anywhere near 135 anymore. I'm embarassed to say what it is, but I take a beta blocker to slow my heart rate, so it starts out slower than most others and therefore doesn't go as high as others. This is just my belief. I go slower because I don't want my husband to come downstairs and find me lying on the floor. The one day that my dog ran away and I was chasing him up the street, I didn't even know I could still run like that. My heart was really pounding and my neighbor was worried about me. But when I told the cardiologist about it he said "We will have to get your dog to run away more often if it's going to get you to move like that!" LOL

I don't remember. Did you have bypass surgery or stents? Did you go to Cardiac Rehab afterwards? I did, and when they first started me out they had me going even slower on the treadmill than I was accustomed to and I kept trying to go faster, but they were monitoring my heart on a computer screen and did not want me going faster. My cardiologist told me that walking is different from other exercises. It increases the blood flow in the arteries in your legs and forces the body to create other small blood vessels to take up the slack. I don't think Tai Chai is considered cardio and is slower paced, but it is still a good form of exercise and is probably for balance, stress, and stretching rather than heart strengthening. Don't stop it, but keep up your cardio too.

The reason I wanted to get a computer with Win 10 is because in the past we had XP on several computers and never wanted to update. Eventually, they announced that they were not longer going to maintain XP and if you continued with it your computer would be at risk. I'm afraid that would eventually happen with 7 and I wanted to be one step ahead. There are a few things we don't like about 10, but I am very flexible with change. I just adapt and not let it upset me like he does. Also, laptops are becoming so popular that there doesn't seem to be as many desktops offered for sale. I don't mind a laptop in a pinch, but prefer a desk top.

Karrine, I am not looking forward to my GS's overnight visit. My DIL has seen our new dog at her place where he really is on his best behavior. But when the same people come to our house he is horrible. He barks and growls constantly the whole time they are here, even if it is for hours at a time. I don't know how to stop him. I don't know if we are going to get any sleep. Also, I am afraid to let my GS sleep in his room alone with the dog on the loose in the house. I might have him sleep with DH and I will sleep in GS's bed in the other room. The dog is very attached to me and will stay where I am, but I don't know what we will do if he doesn't stop barking so we can sleep. I even thought about DH taking GS to a hotel for the night. DH thinks this is all no big deal, but he will care when the time comes and no one gets any sleep all night. My grandson is very active and expects DH to play hard with him, and keep going and going. DH is 72 and getting too old for that. I can't wait until this is overwith. DH will not tell them no when they ask us to babysit. Her parents take him a lot more often than we do but I think they are going to be out of town. They are even older than we are but I think Grandma is very strict and puts her foot down and makes him listen. My DH doesn't believe in putting his foot down. LOL He says grandparents are supposed to let the kids do whatever they want. They are not little for very long.

Mary, I'm getting ads in-between the posts. I never got this before. Do you know how I can get rid of them?

Carol Sue are you getting pop-ups? I am not getting them, only ads on the side and top. You might have picked up some malware/virus so you should run a scan just in case. You probably already have protection but you can get it free and even run a scan online. Just google for a virus and/or malware protection since I don't know which it is, but some cover both. Also do you have a popup blocker software? If you do it will just auto block them as they come up. It tells you if it happens though and I haven't seen that.

I don't think they are pop-ups. I always got ads on the top and sides, but these are in between the posts, like I see about 10 posts per screen, and there's an ad between post 5 and 6. I have never had that before on my other computer.

Oh I see...no I don't see them. I'd run a scan for a virus or malware. This is your new computer? It could have come with a virus on malware on it ..that happens.

Carol ~ I have seen those, but it is if I have logged out and forgotten to log back in.

Did you see the blood moon last night? We saw a very large luminous moon but it was not red. I was glad I got to see the super moon though. Otherwise yesterday was kind of a difficult day dealing with some family issues pushed on us. During this, Dh had high BP and pain radiating down his left arm, I gave him a nitro and it eased. This morning we didn't get to the gym again because of a miscommunication. I asked dh if he thought he could go and he seemed reluctant so I let it go and this morning he says he said we were going and when I got up (late) he was all dressed for the gym but he won't go if I get up past 8 am.

Dh has not been getting his diabetic supplies since we started the new insurance so after many tries he called our insurance company and got started with their program (which we didn't know about). I will probably be changing too, but so far have not had a problem. I'm also cancelling The Food Lovers Diet...it's a great program, best I've ever seen, so simple and works when I work it but I just don't stick to it as the day rolls on. So no use paying for it. I may try it again some day. I have printed out the rules and know how to do it now so hopefully I can do it on my own at least as much as I'm doing it now.

Carol Sue - Hope things work out with the dog and gs at your house! We had a break from our dog last night but she came home early this morning. She came in to say good morning as our door was open. Funny about what the doctors said after your running after the dog! I too need to move more. I feel like I am probably getting very out of shape. Did ride my bike yesterday for about 15 min. My heart rate goes up very fast...I got to 135 in about 2 min on the bike. Shows how unfit I am. When I see it getting too high I slow down a bit.

I too believe in thinking ahead...with our new door we are getting the lever type opener rather than a knob in case our hands become arthritic. Dh already has arthritis but so far is able to use knobs and open jars etc, but you never know in the future. I don't have arthritis in my hands yet as far as I know.

Did you see that there is a laptop mode in Win 10? I accidentally saw it once when I was just playing around. It comes up on the right hand side but I forgot now what I clicked on. I like to play around when I can as I learn that way. I haven't yet found any reason for me to use the laptop mode though.

Well much to do today so better get busy. Have a good day, all of you!