Morning all,

Short post today as it is too hot to sit here at the computer. I'm home alone (apart from the cats) which is fortunate because I might not be able to contain my annoyance at some of the human attitudes displayed earlier this morning.

I had the interview with the colonoscopy surgeon on Friday and am all clear from that. So that is two down and both negative for cancer. I think the third will be as well as I received discharge papers from the hospital on Friday - no results just the discharge papers. I have an appointment with my GP tomorrow (Monday) so I will attempt to get some answers from him when I show him all the stuff I have.

We've had some huge storms yesterday and some very welcome rain. I think we are due some more today as well but haven't seen any signs of it yet. The radar is not looking hopeful either. Anyway it seems to have watered the garden nicely and made the weeds grow faster I am sure.

So I am now off to have a shower, wash my hair and try to cool off some. Then I need to sort out something for dinner when the family get home. Think it might be spaghetti meatballs or something similar

Good morning everyone. Woke up to brilliant sunshine and frost everywhere. It is pretty outside.

I am still dealing with the fall out of the computer hacking. I think it happened because I was using a free Antivirus, which has worked well for me for the past 5 years but failed this time.

The way that I knew I was hacked was both my credit card companies called about fraudulent charges and my phone alerted me that someone was trying to put my gmail on a new device and to confirm if it was me or not. It wasnt. They also started doing this with my DH's gmail account.

My brother has helped with that too as we now have a two step authentication with our email. He wiped our computer tower and also gave us a new router so those should be clean. I will buy a new Norton Antivirus, the kind you use the disk to install. I will never agai download something like that from the internet. I was using Avast and while my brother says it is a good source you download it from the internet and I wont do that again when it is something that should be protecting me.

The hackers were using my gmail email address to set up accounts with money transfer companies and my credit card or maybe now someone elses as I was getting email from these companies saying there is a issue with the transfer and to contact them.

Of course I have changed my password on gmail. I think I might file a police report about all of this to have a record of it in case it would turn into a case of stolen identify.

I am now going to start the process of removing my gmail from sites, like my fitbit, my fitness pal and sites like that and set up a email profile with my home Internet provider. I will do that first for me and then my DH.

Never again will I use a free email domain. I was told that hackers use gmail because most people have gmail because itnis free. Just like hotmail and yahoo.

So that is it for now on the hacker saga. I am using my work laptop to make all these changes as I know how tight our security is at work and on our device's. We have to authenticate two ways before we can get onto the internet and when we log onto the computer.

Oh another thing I learned was to not use Internet Explorer as a search engine. My brother said to use Chrome.

I will come back and do personals in another post as this one is long

Shad: you mentioned it was very hot there. When does your summer officially start and is it usually this warm already?

It sounds like all the test results are coming back ok and for that I am thankful.

Laura, I bet it feels good to get back home! How long will it be before your mom moves into her place?

Hopefully your heels are feeling better after being off them for a day or so.

Ceejay: I bet it feels good to get back to your own home and get everything back in place again.

We are still mowing grass here in Ohio too. DH is the one who does the mowing, not me. I have done it once in our marriage. DH had dislocated his ankle and it was in May. I mowed it that first weekend that he couldnt and hired the neighbor boy to do it the rest of that summer! Lol

Happy: I hope you will do well with your knees when you go to your sister's house. I know traveling wears me out and I cant imagine doing it with one knee that is healing snf one bad knee.

Annie: I was so hoping we would see each other this weekend but I knew you were going to be dealing with having your son come fix the sink and things.

We will just have to plan to meet halfway sometime and have dinner. It was only about a 2 hr trip for us to get to Lucas Oil stadium, so it wouldn't be bad to meet halfway sometime.

I will talk to everyone tomorrow. I need to finish cleaning this house.

We picked out the back splash and counter top yesterday and today. Now I am anxious to get that done.
Talked to my Dallas sister yesterday also. She is going to be grand mother again in May. We don't know the gender yet. She also told me that they have set a date to move to Atlanta, Georgia in June.
Was a bit bummed yesterday. I found out from a friend of my uncles on FB that he was in the hospital. I finally got in touch with one of his sons. But he was very vague about the situation. All he said was that he fell and broke his hip. I had contacted his dil and she finally called me back to tell me that he had fallen in the bathroom around 5 a.m. on Halloween morning and broke his hip. He has one of those pendants. so the emergency people were there in no time.
He had to have a rod put in his hip socket and now he's in the Paragould hospital for rehabilitation. He said that Thursday he will be moved to another facility because Medicare will only pay for 20 day's. If they move him they will pay for another facility.
I'm going shopping for a bed tomorrow. I'm not sure if I need to get a queen or another twin. I'm not expecting to much company. The people that come this way want to do their own thing.
Gotta have some more rx's fill in the morning. This should last me till I see the doctor the 30th.
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Susie
Think I would report this to the police also. It's that time of the year where people are vulnerable to thieves. It was cold enough to frost last night but I didn't get up in time to see it. I hope it did. It was 35 degree's.

Laura
I'm not sure how to post the picture to this website. I will try. I don't know how to photo crop.

Annie
Did you get your sink fixed where the leak was?

Shad
I'm going to make spaghetti this week also. Was going to make soup but we're having soup and sandwiches next week at church. Can't believe it's time to decorate the church.

Happy
Bumping the hot tub up to 102 degrees should be very helpful to those aches and pains. My nephew like to get in the hot tub when it was 30 degrees outside. The loved it.

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Think I'll eat some chili.

Morning all.

Woke to the news of a severe earthquake in NZ. So far 2 lives lost and a lot of damage in the Marlborough/Kaikoura region. That's the main wine growing region - or rather the most famous wine growing area. Did some damage in Wellington and Christchurch as well. Family as far as can be determined are all okay. I'm still trying to get through to a couple of cousins in Christchurch and then the family is all accounted for.

Susie - November through to February is Summer. Actually it should be December thru February but November is the beginning of the storm season and over the last couple of years has been getting progressively hotter. If you ever wish to visit the tropics in Australia, come in our winter. Temperatures are much nicer then and the the bugs are missing. Temps in the summer are commonly 33 to 36C and frequently warmer. That's 97 - 100F and depending on where you are can reach to 40C and higher. Higher inland and cooler on the coast.

This internet is playing up again. I'm typing faster than the words appear on the screen. So I am going to shut down and try again shortly.

Good Morning....Wow when it rains it pours....Plumbing problems.

First as mentioned before, the kitchen sink is a mess. Still not fixed as hubby tried to repair it. Son did not make it to the house as DH said he would fix it. OMGoodness I should of said NO! So hopefully son will make it soon. Then my DD called me at work on Wednesday and said the guest toitie handle broke and she could not flush it without taking the top of the tank. Ok, not so bad, DH can fix that one, just had to get to the hardware store to get a replacement handle thingy. NOW our water heater is leaking and have to sop up water out of the pan every couple of days so it doesn't overflow. DS will definitely have to take a look at that one and probably replace the water heater. This was my weekend. The biggest problem is my DS doesn't have time to tend to all our plumbing problems at the moment, between his new job and OT and deer hunting season, he is mostly useless in this department. Sweating bullets.

SUSIE...sorry I could not meet up with you. Too many things going on at the house. With DH working 24/7, I have to handle most of the problems. Soon, real soon, we can meet up. Hope you hear from 2nd interview soon to keep us out of suspense.

SHADDIE...Prayers and good thoughts out to New Z. Hope you enjoyed you day alone with the kitties.

LAURA...ahhh, good to be back home. Hope momma decides to get rid of more stuff, altho it would of been easier prior to the move. Glad you and CEEG got to hook up.

CEEG...enjoy your new floors!

HAPPY...day 3 out of my boot. Oh the pain by the end of the day. Do you find when you are in pain with knees/legs that you tend to be cranky? I know I am. Feel sorry for the other humans I come in contact with sometimes. lol. I could use a dip in the hot tub.

Hello to all, make it a great day/night/week.

Hugs

Well good morning chicks to another edition of "the I'm so over it club". I think I'm going to bow out of Facebook for a while. I am so so SO tired of all this ugliness coming across my feed of name calling, political bs and outright lies and distortions. Got in a big fight with DH last night. He says I am so negative and fight with everyone. I guess bottom line is that everyone else is entitled to their opinions but I have to shut up. I did unfriend a few people - it has always been my intention with FB to keep a close group of friends who are actual friends. People who actually TALK to me once in a while. Please don't use me to up your friend count and then I never hear from you. A few people sent me friend requests and I wasn't sure how to respond so I accepted. But these are people who are friends of DH or his camera club and I don't even know them. I would really just rather have the small group of people I know. Bad enough I had to unfollow half of them because they are maniacs about posting 20 to 30 shares per day supporting their own political agendas. *Sigh*. Why can't we just post funny stuff and recipes????

Speaking of recipes, I got word that a truck with fresh shrimp and crab from the Gulf was coming to town yesterday. I went there and bought 10 pounds of fresh shrimp and a pound of crab claw meat (good for making crab cakes). I am not sure where I am going to put all this extra shrimp which I need to freeze as well as make up the crab cakes and freeze them too - but I have always been bad about those little details in life. Saturday I picked up a few things from the farmers market and I literally cannot fit another tiny package of vegetables in my basement freezer. It is packed to the gills. Which means the shrimp has to fit in my upstairs tiny freezer. I guess I can take out the ice packs I use on my leg since I won't need those for 2 weeks. Made shrimp scampi last night with thin spaghetti noodles and fresh broccoli. It was good. I want to use the shrimp shells to make a seafood stock for later except I think DH ate all of my fresh carrots I was saving for that.

Shad - in the grand scheme of frustrations, life is nothing compared to real, actual problems. I am so sorry to hear of the earthquake in NZ. I know it's a seismically active region, but isn't this a bit more than usual in both frequency and intensity? I am glad to hear your family is ok but poor Christchurch - a few more rumbles and will there be anything left standing? The one good thing about us being around the world from each other is that the best time to visit is also opposite from each other. You most certainly would not want to come here November through May - you'd freeze to the ground Hope you have taken your rest and are feeling better to start rambing around the house doing things again.

Anne - so sorry to hear of your plumbing woes. My totie handle is also on the fast path to breaking - so maybe it's that time of year. How old is the water heater? Can you pay someone to install it - I know they charge 2 arms and a leg for it but if no one has the time right now. The problem is getting it fixed before it breaks down completely. Or makes a mess with flooding. Always something in a house, isn't there? Sorry DS can't help you right now. I think there is a tiny window for deer hunting season too so he can't much put that off. Our bucks are no where to be found - they seem to know what's going on. The season starts when I leave on Saturday and ends shortly after I come back. So C is on the run again working lots of OT? He's going to get all run down again. I'm sorry your foot is hurting so badly out of the boot. One thing you can try at the end of the night is to take 2 buckets of water - one hot, one as cold as you can stand it and keep alternating your foot hot / cold / hot / cold. That will increase the circulation and may make it feel better. And yes, I do find myself getting really cranky and short tempered the more I am hurting. I am also frustrated because I have so much to do and it's difficult walking as it's quite painful. If I take some sort of pain reliever, then my stomach hurts all the time. So I am always in some kind of discomfort which makes me CRANKY. So I feel your pain sister and I understand. Yes, you would enjoy a dip in the hot tub. I am getting used to going in it each night - often just to warm up as I seem to be really really cold for some reason and winter has not even started. There are powerful jets on the lower part of the hot tub - they would give you a feel good foot massage too. Hope you are feeling better.

Laura - are you back at work today? When will your Mom's new place be ready? Will you be taking time off to help her move in also? Will it be just you and BF helping her? Or is your sister in town with you too? I can't remember. How is your foot doing? That was alot on your feet also. Sometimes no amount of cushy shoes will help a marathon on your feet day.

Ceejay- I am sorry to hear about the uncle. Breaking a hip is a very serious injury. I hope he can recover from it. Is he one of the uncles who is on his own? That's interesting that you move to be near one sister and the other moves from Texas to Georgia. Atlanta is a pretty area but fairly expensive and there is way too much traffic out there for my tastes. Now you have another place to visit now that you have free time. As for the spare bed, twice (in 2 houses) I set up guest rooms only to have very few guests so I'd say please yourself. Maybe compromise between a twin and queen and get a full size mattress. Depends too on how much room you have in the room. We have our old king sleep number bed in one of the guest rooms and with one dresser, you can barely move in the room. I thinking of tossing it and just putting the day bed in there and DH's guitar room can be his in-house man cave. Many people who might stay here anyway - like my sister - can't because they are allergic to cats.

Hello to the rest of the chicks. I have been dawdling about getting things done mostly because both my legs have been super sore the last couple of days. But time's a ticking and Tuesday - Thursday are jammed packed days where I will be gone all day so I NEED to get a move on here - pain or not .

I will peek back in later. Have a good start to the week everyone.

It is so stinking cold in this darn office. I finally broke down and took a hike down to the canteen below and got some tomato basil soup. They are homemade soups so that is a plus. Most of their soups are creamy and caloric, but the tomato basil seems to be ok. Well crap, just slopped soup on the sleeve of my sweater. Batcrap batman.

HAPPY...I went through my friends list on FB and deleted some also. Just because I either never talk with them or really don't even remember them. Like people from my HS from other classes. Just because we have 25 mutual friends does not mean I know you and certainly don't chat with you. I took a couple of ibuprofen a bit ago and hope they kick in on the ankle. I am cranky more with pain. C asked me what was wrong, of course, I snapped and said nothing it is that you keep asking me that. Oh boy. Had to apologize for snapping. MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm, wish I lived near you, I love shrimp. Not hot on crabcakes but do love crab. Our water heater is as old as my house. 13 years old. Probably due a new one anyway. Rob Peter to pay Paul, sadly Peter and Paul no long exist. Deceased. When my core body gets cold, it takes forever to get warm again. So yes a dip in the hot tub would be wonderful.

Later chickies.

Good Morning Chickies...

Happy Tuesday! I think! lol. Brought leftover grilled veggies and my homemade chicken and noodles for lunch. Noodles will probably put me in a carb coma this afternoon for my CC, but oh well. Talked with my son on the way into work this morning. His to be ex wife is being a real beeeeaaaaccchh about things. Some how I knew this was going to be this way. I just didn't have a good gut feeling about her all along. How much can a momma's heart hurt for her children? Too much. Much like our furry kids, plus the fact I am over emotional sap the majority of the time. Heck I about got tears in my eyes as I was leaving the house this morning at 6:20 am. Royce got up EARLY, came in my room to tell Nanna goodbye. I picked him up and he laid his head on my shoulder and patted my back. OMGoodness, my heart about exploded.

Last night I fixed chicken ring and mixed veggies for dinner, quick, easy and had everyone fed, kitchen cleaned up by 6:00 pm. That is quick as we usually don't sit down to eat till around 6:30 due to Cs late arrival and me fixing time consuming dinners. I want to fix chili tonight however I know that will bother Cs tummy and gut. Then I think he doesn't eat right anyway, why should I be sensitive to his issues? I don't know, chili and cornbread just sounds good to me, or maybe some of HAPPYs shrimp.

Hello to all, make it a great day/night.

Hugs

Good morning everyone,

I have to leave in less than an hour. Hair appointment and then I am pulling a shift at the thrift shop to help fill in. Had an awful night - only a couple of hours of sleep so this will be a long day and it's gloomy out too.

Anne - you are welcome to some shrimp. What was I thinking when I got 10 pounds????? I froze 2 batches last night - must be completely submerged in water so I used a zip lock bag and a big zip lock container and made an ice "brick". But I don't know if I have enough room for all of this!!!! And after 2 shrimp meals we are about shrimped out. Plus I need to do something with the pound of crab - probably eat half and make crab cakes with the other half. I wish I could send you some. And some popcorn. LOL

Sorry about the divorce. Many but not all girls don't take marriage that seriously any more. And they make it so hard on the guys. Just split if you must. Don't hurt each other more. People are just so crazy these days. We need more love, more sensitivity to people's feelings.

Anyway I have to run, will try and get back on tonight. Have a good day everyone.

I hit a wrong key and the post went away. Yesterday I went to Planet Fitness to work out by riding the recumbent bike. Got in 28 minutes. I still like my bike better but it's about had it. Think I'm going to ask for help today. I tried programming the bike but didn't get very far. After the gym I went down to FFO home which is a furniture store and bought a twin bed. I could sleep on this. I'm now thinking very seriously about getting myself a mattress like it except in a queen. Sunday night I ordered a Christmas tree from Target. It's only 4 foot but that is plenty big for me.
Yahoo sent me a message that some of the email had been hacked so I changed my password. Guess I need to find a private server but even they can be hacked. I'm taking the app off the phone. Don't need it anyway.
Going to start unpacking some things today and purging again. If it hasn't been thought about or hasn't been used in the last 6 months it's going to be donated or thrown away.

Happy
The uncle that broke his hip is the one that I visited frequently while I was in Arkansas. He was 85 in April. I've never been a fish lover except for fried catfish. hmm I' m going to see if their is a restaurant in Springfield that serves fried catfish. I've had to unfollow some people on FB either because of their language or this new outspoken hatred of the election.

Annie
Wow, glad you've caught all those leaks before the flood came.

Hello's to Laura and Susie

Here's the photo of Ceejay and me. Ceejay, do you think the ones on your phone turned out any better? Maybe my vision is just getting worse (okay, probably), but this just looks sort of blurry to me.

Back with personals...

Happy – I think you should bring some shrimp and crab with you to Chicago! And if there are no takers in your family, I would be happy to take it off your hands, LOLOL. Otherwise, I think you need to beg some freezer space from friends. Yum, crab cakes. === Re your comment about the divorce – if divorces are so common that apparently means marriages/vows are taken very lightly these days, why marry at all? A huge party and a piece of paper do not equate to commitment & dedication to a relationship. == My sister lives about 30 minutes to the north of my mom’s place, so she’ll be helping. I have to say after last week, I think we’ll both be limiting our involvement to unpacking the necessities and leaving the continuation of the purging process to my mom. === Re my feet, in addition to the heel issue, last Monday I also injured the tendon/ligament in that same foot when my nephew and I were trying to round up one of my mom’s neighbor’s dogs that had gotten out of their yard. So I was hobbling around for the rest of the week, including when I met up with Ceejay on Tuesday. Otherwise, it really was a lot of time on our feet. My sneakers, even with my custom orthotics, did not keep them from getting sore from all the standing all day long. In fact the arch support in the orthotics probably made them feel worse once the soreness hit after a few days. But I'm mostly better now, and I hope some more time off my feet will help the problem foot continue to heal.

Annie – My comment to Happy above re marriage is a broad generalization, and I do not pretend to know the circumstances of your kids’ marriages or divorces, so please know that no offense is intended. === What a little sweetie that Royce is. === I can see your viewpoint with C’s eating – if he isn’t making the right choices on his own, why should you struggle to prepare meals that work for his medical condition? Especially when you’ve got three other people in the house to consider, especially young children. === So you’re off the boot now for part of the day? Or is it all day? Hope the foot/ankle adjust to it soon and the pain eases up. === Oy, you poor thing with your plumbing problems and how unfortunate the plumber in the family isn’t available to help. Our hot water heater is getting up in years, will probably need to replace it soon. Unfortunately, we have old pipes too and when the weather gets cold, it’s very noticeable how long it takes the hot water tap in the bathroom (the farthest tap from the HWH) to give us even warm water. And we even wrapped the HWH and the pipes!

Ceejay – I’m sorry to hear about your uncle’s broken hip. So very common. My mom had a fall and “fractured” her hip a few years back and it didn’t require surgery or replacement – she was lucky. I went to work in the office today and she will be alone in the house for a couple hours once bf goes to his class later this afternoon. Although she wasn’t currently using a cane or walker (though she owns both), she does have issues sitting down and getting up, so we got her a loaner cane from the village’s human services department medical equipment closet so she can use it if she needs to. Can’t say I’m not a bit worried since after two days here she’s not nearly as familiar with our house as she was with hers. === Is the twin bed for a guest room? Is it time to replace your own bed? Are you talking just the mattress or headboard/frame? Mattresses are hard to shop for – how can you tell how comfy it’ll be when you only lay on it for a few minutes?? I’m happy to say that my mom said the new daybed mattress is comfortable.

Shad – I’m sorry to hear about the quake in NZ. And now the big rains interrupting the evacuation efforts. I hope you’ve confirmed the last of the family members are alright.

Susie – I hope you’ve dealt with the fallout from the hacking, and that you’re set up more securely now.

Better get this posted. TTFN.

Hi Everyone.

Annie: I have to ask, you used to do Taco Tuesday--do you still do that? We had taco's last night and that made me think of it.

What a sweet-heart Royce is; I would have had tears in my eyes too.

My DH can eat chili with his diverticulosis but only when he hasn't had any trouble and only about 2 bowls of it in a week.

Happy: That is a lot of shrimp! Did you get it all in the freezer?
How did it go with your hair appointment and your shift at the thrift shop?

Is the traffic increasing as people start thinking about things to buy for the Holiday's and maybe trying to find something different or unique and a bargain?

Ceejay: Good for you for going to Planet Fitness and getting on the bike. Is your bike at home a recumbent bike or a normal stationary bike?

Laura: I didn't get to check out the picture but I will do that after I post.
You will have to let us know how your mom did with being along in your house for a few hours while you went to work.

When do she move into her own place? I am sure right now things are very scary to her, she has moved, she doesn't have her things and the people that she knew from her hometown. You are a good daughter to help her during this transition.

I did the tread desk again at work today. I had a candy bar after a stressful meeting and I wasn't going to go get on it, but I did and I feel better for it. I wish I could overcome emotional eating. I will just keep trying.

No word on the 2nd interview yet. I thought she said we would know after November 16..that is tomorrow.

The hacking seems to be cleared up but then I'm not back on my home computer yet. I need to buy the antivirus, hacking, malware, spyware program and I haven't done that yet. I'll get around to it in a few weeks. I have my phone and my work laptop so I'm not dead in the water.

See you all tomorrow.

Good Morning/Evening All...

Made chili anyway last night and it was yummy. I put leftover sloppy joe in there too. No one knew the difference. haha. Kind of made for a sweet chili. Had to use kidney beans instead of chili beans as I was out of CBs. The cornbread was tasty too. Just used the jiffy mix cornbread and added a T of sugar, so it wasn't so bland and boring. I ate a half piece of that with my chili, also to my bowl of chili I added chopped onions, shredded cheese and sour cream, what a delightful taste. Hmmm, getting a watery mouth thinking about it. haha.

Sis was supposed to color my hair last night, but frankly we both spaced it. Must get that done tonight. Chris will have the boys over night and C is going fishing with his brother today and will get home late. We will have plenty of quiet hair coloring time.

SUSIE...no news is good news on the interview. Probably trying to get your $$ offer together. Good luck. I haven't been to taco Tuesday since I have been back from leave. Will probably go sometime soon. My TT pal now walks the canal everyday during lunch, so I would have to go by myself. My own company doesn't excite me at the moment.

LAURA...no offense taken on your divorce take. Actually I feel the same way. Chris and Samantha did much better before they were married and to think I am still paying for that darn wedding. Never again. I am out of the boot entirely. I must say I have tweaks of pain here and there but that is to be expected. Swelling too, the doc said the swelling will last up to a year. So I am not concerned with that. I am a little pained by the leg cramps at night when I relax. OMGoodness, I about died last night. Took an hour of rubbing and heating pad before I had any relief. Holy crap! How is momma adjusting to her new living arranagements? Did she do ok yesterday alone? When does she move into her own place? But mostly, How are you doing with it all? May the force be with you, and you momma too!

HAPPY...nice chatting with you last night on FB...I see we are both in the same ache and pain boat. Maybe we need to get lost at sea. lol. Is this how the rest of our lives are going to be? I pray not. I try to put things into perspective, but often times it is difficult. Like the soldier who has lost limbs, at least I have mine and can walk, even if in pain. I guess next on your shrimp menu is salad with shrimp tossed in. Of course you would have to shell it first. Yuk. I am with you, more love, less hate in the world would be nice.

CEEG...we have a Planet Fitness near us but I am sure I would not use it enough or at all to justify joining. Good for you on the bike. We all know I hate exercise and wouldn't do it. I stink at it. I admit it. lol

Hello to all, have a wonderful hump day. Hugs