Just came up for a bit of air, calls and reports are my main issues right now. Hope all is well with everyone...will try to get back tomorrow for personals.

Hugs

Hi ladies,

I took the 3 dogs to the dog park yesterday. All was going well for about an hour until one of the park dogs wanted to play with my friends' dog that has a bad back. It would've been fine if he wanted to race/chase, but the other dog wanted to wrestle so I had to pull them apart. I can't take them to the park tonight a I promised my nephew that I'd attend a presentation by a guest speaker at his church. Tomorrow, I'm taking my friend's mom out to dinner (same friends who I'm housesitting for). I've been checking on by phone her every day to remind her to take her meds.

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Happy - I hope your meeting goes well and you get the communication sorted. I also hope the bears have left your yard. Thanks for the asthma warning about the color run. I thought it was liquid dye.

Laura - I'm not commuting via train yet. But I plan to start after the housesitting stint is done. And when I do, I'll probably still drive on Mon, Wed and Fri so that I can be sure to get to the gym on time. I would like to save gas and wear and tear on my car and nerves. LOL

Annie - I hope your busy day goes by quickly.

Love and hugs to all,

Laura
Unfortunately my sis was trying to tell me not to sign up for Medicare. It doesn't matter though I will do my own thing. I'm still going to check into some things and talk to the insurance person at work. RE fit bit-Think I bought the other one cause it was a faze I was going through. Every one was getting them. You are right, I really don't need the expensive ones, just something to count my steps. So I pulled out one of my other pedometers and am wearing it today.

Happy
Hope the meeting goes well at the Thrift store. Most of the time I separate how I want things in the sacks. Ugh raw fish drippings would not be pleasant at all to me. I'm not a fish person anyway. Hope the bears realize that there is no more food at your house and have left.

Michelle
Glad you are liking the new job. We had a prediction of 94 degrees for today. It feels like it outside too. Is your gym near your work now?

Shad
You must be a busy little beaver at work.

Annie
Come up for air once in awhile.

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Not much news. Rode my bike for another 10 minutes last night. Plus as of right now I have 4500 steps.

Good Morning..thought I would come here before all H*|| breaks loose.

Let's see...nothing much happening around here. High temps and humidity makes for a lazy day. THe annual strawberry festival is happening on the circle downtown, a few blocks down from work, so several of us are walking over to get strawberries. It is "the works" shortcake, strawberries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream for 7 bucks. 95% of the proceeds go to charities. I am going ala cart and getting just strawberries. Don't need the shortcake nor the ice cream, plus I am not an ice cream fan. Should be crowded, hot, humid and nutty to say the least, but I need to get out of this office.

CHELLE...glad you are enjoying your house sitting gig. More doggies to love is definitely a plus. Dogs wrestling too rough can sometimes turn into a fight, that scares me. Glad you got them apart in time.

CEEG..RE: Insurance...do what your gut tells you to do for your own sake. Don't let anyone talk you out of your decisions. Just because it may not be good for them does not mean it won't be good for you.

HAPPY...I agree with you on the bagger, ding dong dandy. If I don't have too many items, I go through the self scanner, then I know my food gets bagged correctly. Did you get your garden in?

LAURA...men are big babies when it comes to colds or any type of ailment. Poor C always has something going on, or at least he thinks so. LOL. Remember it is the prepping for the colonoscopy that is the worst. The procedure itself is a piece of cake, all the while you are in la la land.

SHADDIE...haha, very good and funny about HAPPY's DH locked in the tower. Made me chuckle out loud.

DEE...we have not chosen a date in October for KI yet. Probably wait till it gets closer to make that decision. We will surely let everyone know.

TERRA...did you get your vents cleaned? What is on the menu at school?

SUSIE...hope you are enjoying your vacation. Can't wait to hear all about it.

OH LAURA...thank you so much for the birthday card. Lovely.

Make it a great day all. Hugs

My development environment at work is FINALLY working and I know what files need updating and what special processes need to occur to make the changes appear. I was having problems where I would modify the code, but the changes would not appear. Now that I know the step(s) I was missing that I wasn't informed about. I will finally be able to be productive.


I had overcommitted myself yesterday. I was supposed to work out in a group training session with my trainer from 5-6 and then go to my grown nephew's church for a talk given by a guest speaker. It wasn't feasible to do both (factoring in the time to shower and get ready after my workout). And with the rain we got yesterday (very rare for June in California, but very much needed) that made the roads slick and traffic worse than normal. I really, really wanted to just go straight home (to my friends' home where i'm housesitting) and veg out. So I texted my nephew that I wasn't going to make it. And I texted my trainer that I wasn't going to make it to the group training session. By the time I got closer to the gym (about 55 minutes, rather than the usual 40 minute drive), I decided I might as well work out as my eating for the day wasn't all that good...and I would feel better with some endorphins. I made it to the group session just a couple minutes late and got a great workout. I really pushed myself on the treadmill and during the strength training portion. I want to increase my percentage of lean muscle so I can increase my metabolism. Anyway I felt bad about not being able to go to my nephew's church to hear the guest speaker....but I chose the activity that would be better for me both in the short term and long term. I'm trying to put my needs first some of the time.

I really need to manage my free time better and resist the urge to overcommit. I overcommit because I don't want to say "no" or let anyone down...but in the end I end up canceling or getting sick because I push myself too hard.

I probably will only get a couple walks in today for exerise, as I told my friend who I'm housesitting for that I would take his mom out to dinner once each week. She lives in an assisted living facility and doesn't drive. My friend gave me money for these dinners.

This week, I've been fixing my boyfriend's laptop after work...and this weekend, in addition to walking in a Bubble Run (http://www.bubblerun.com/upcoming-locations/san-jose/), going to my step-mom's to spend time with her and play Scrabble (since I haven't done that in a couple weeks), going to a reunion for my boyfriend's family, and taking the dogs to the dog park, I want to do some programming training (either online or out of book from the library) and I should do some website work for a nonprofit organization I help out on a freelance basis. Overcommitted? Yes, definitely. LOL I might skip my bf's reunion.

So things are getting better. I'm more optimistic about being successful in this new job, and in my journey to health. And I want to start journaling/writing on a regular basis as I have found that to be an effective way to process stuff.

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Ceejay - My gym is close to where I live, not close to where I work. It was closer to my last job. So it takes me 40-55 minutes to get to the gym from work and then another 15 minutes to get home from the gym (except when I have to pick up Santa from day care - which will start up again a week from Monday, then it will take me 30-40 minutes to get home from the gym). Good for you for riding the bike and tracking your steps. We've had a cool down for the past couple days, but it's going to heat up to the mid-90s again by Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Annie - Enjoy the strawberry festival. The strawberry shortcake with ice cream sounds delicious! Bravo on just getting the strawberries. I can usual see which dogs are going to fight and which are just playing but when it comes to my friends' dog that has a bad back...any wrestling can be dangerous. I agree with you on the self-scanner at the grocery store. The only time I don't do that is when I have lot of produce as it's a PITA to look all that up on the scanner. Sorry I didn't get a birthday card to you in time.

Laura - Annie's right...the prep for the colonoscopy is infinitely worse than the procedure. They put you out for the procedure - you wake up and it's done time to go home.


Love and hugs,

Morning all. Yep, still the AM here for a few more minutes.

Annie – Have you gotten the reports worked out? Enjoy the strawberry fest!!! Re the gastro appointment – this one is just the consultation, and then we’ll get the procedure scheduled. Yeh, the prep will be the difficult part. I have a friend here at work who hasn’t gotten one yet (she’s 57) because she said she doesn’t have anyone to take her home afterwards – I offered, so we’ll see if she takes me up on it. And I’ll have to keep pestering her.

Michelle – Sounds like the job and house/dogsitting are keeping you very busy. Quite a handful watching over three dogs at once, especially the one with the back issue who can’t play rough. I worry about Coal at the dog park – he wants to run around with the young dogs, but his arthritic hips won’t allow that anymore. We’re thinking of going back to the old dog park we used to go to when he was a pup. It has the small lake where he can swim. Bf would have to take him during the week, during the morning or afternoon when there wouldn’t be many other dogs around and hope that he would still enjoy swimming in the lake. It would be good for his hips too. Of course he’d have to get into the lake through the “beach” part (zero depth) and not leap off the steeper shoreline parts like he used to…It’s difficult knowing he can’t do certain things anymore. Re your commute – even cutting out 2 days of driving will save on your car’s wear and tear (and gas expense). Good you pared down your activities yesterday instead of trying to “do it all”. Sounds like you’ll need to be diligent about doing that – your weekend sounds packed!!

Ceejay – I agree with Annie - get your own level of knowledge and comfort about your insurance options and go with what seems best for you. Yeh, all these fitness tracking gadgets are a bit of a fad for most people. You could wear a rubber band on your wrist if all you needed is something to remind you to get up and move a bit. That said, I’ve already got my fitbit so I’ll just keep using it. I’m going to contact customer service about the torn wristband. It should last longer than 6 months! I’ve heard that the fitbit folks are good about making things right when there are problems.

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Nothing much to report. I watched the Hawks game last night and they won – the series is tied 2-2. The games are not the most relaxing thing to watch, but they can be exciting - certainly never boring.

Movie night was moved to Thursday this week. I didn’t vote because I was hoping for a bike club ride tonight…but it might rain. I’m gonna skip the movie regardless – the movie “Jurassic World” was chosen and even though I’m sure it’s good and entertaining, I’m just not into that stuff. I’d rather see the Mad Max movie sometime.

So we’ll see how the weather goes and if I go on the ride tonight. Bf won’t – he’s still in the throes of his crummy cold.

That’s it for now. Buh-bye.

Kind of disappointed this morning when I went down to the see the insurance man. He wasn't there. sigh. So I'm off to the social security office this afternoon or in the morning. I've got to get this done.
I've been lazy this morning.

Annie
Thanks for your moral support. It's greatly appreciated. At least I have one sister who is all for it.

Laura - I definitely will need to be diligent and prioritize this weekend and every weekend. I enjoyed having Fridays off way back at my old job. It was nice having an extra day to get things taken care of. As for Coal, I hope your bf can get him to swim at the park. It is difficult to watch our furry friends' health decline. There have been a couple times since I've been housesitting, where the dog with the bad back heard a noise outside and jumped off the couch (rather than use the pet stairs) and my heart nearly skipped a beat. He's not supposed to jump on or off the furniture (hence the pet stairs). I kind of want to see Juraissic World. The Mad Max movie was good....really non-stop action from start to finish. I hope the weather clears up so you can go on your ‪bike club ride. Thanks for the Stanley Cup update. With the Golden State warriors in the NBA finals, the sports news doesn't include much about hockey. I'm not a big fan of either the Blackhawks or the Lightning (my teams are Pittsburgh penguins, Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks), but I'll root for the Hawks on behalf of you and Happy.

Ceejay - Good for you on getting the info you need to make your best decision. Bummr that the insurance agent wasn't there. Did you have an appointment with him? I hope that Social Security is able to clearly explain the costs and benefits...sometimes government entities are so full of bureaucracy that it can get confusing. Wishing you luck and keeping my fingers crossed that you're able to get the info you need.

Drove to Blytheville, about 20 minutes, to talk to Social Security about signing up for Medicare. They made an appointment for me to talk with an agent on June 25. And she answered most of my questions. Think she was shocked at me for not signing up for the other benefits. I may look into that then also.
I will call the insurance agent to see when I can meet with him.

Michelle ~ Yeah I hope the vents get cleaned soon too

Happy ~ What do you mean by Light Summer meals? Just curious

Laura ~ Yeah I've been working out for a year now. I just dont do it every day like I know I should.

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I'm currently previewing my new work out dvd. The reason why I'm previewing it and not following along is because I dont have my new exercise mat yet, I'll have my new exercise mat on Sunday and then I'll do the whole work out dvd again. Its Valerie Bertinelli's Work Out DVD called Losing It and Keeping Fit. I did my other 30 min work out dvd this morning though. That one isnt on the floor. I just got done previewing the first work out on the dvd and I found out that the last 5 mins is not on the floor so I just did the last 5 mins. I'm previewing the 2nd work out on the dvd. I'm doing everything on 2nd work out but the floor ones. Anyway today I was at school from 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. I'm glad that I'm able to stay home tomorrow though, I've been going somewhere for the past 3 days, Tues,Wed. and today. I'm looking forward to Sat. though Scott and I are going to see Jurassic World but we're seeing it in 3D. Anyway I hope everyone had a good day today.

A very happy, happy birthday to you my friend!!! Hope your day is as fabulous as you are

I am very sorry that your card will be late. I didn't get it to the post office until yesterday and I'm sure it won't make it there on time but it IS on it's way.

Your strawberry festival sounds like great fun. This time of year when the fresh strawberries are in season and so fragrant, who needs the extra cake and whipped cream. Enjoy!!!

Hi everyone,

Things are way too busy. I did finish my minutes for the thrift shop meeting and get them out. Then DH wanted to go to Duluth to get a cable for a side job he is working on. I would have rather hung around the house but I did blow him off the other day when he went to Eau Claire to take some pictures of a grist mill so I decided to go with him. The trip was a bit of a bummer, they did not have the camera he was interested in looking at nor did they have the cable. We went to Home Depot to look at entry doors since the place we went to last fall and called 8 times doesn't seem to want to follow up. Then we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. We had ribs, they were very tender but there was too much salt in the rub for my tastes so I ate 2 ribs and that was it. DH said you can't taste the salt if you douse it with BBQ sauce so he can have them tomorrow and I will finish the other half of my fresh wild salmon that I had yesterday with asparagus and cucumber salad. Yum. Came home and called Mom tonight. I looked at the fall schedule for the local continuing education school and signed up for 3 different one day art courses, a class on essential oils and got registered for the Sept through Dec yoga classes with my favorite teacher. I am thinking I will skip the 30 minute drive to her summer class that starts in 2 weeks. It will be a while before I can do some bends and yoga moves after cataract surgery so it doesn't make sense to pay for classes I will miss. Tomorrow I WILL remember that I have Kundalini yoga at 10am and will be there. I am feeling a bit rickety 2 weeks without my yoga even though I do a lot of stretching and moves when I wake up in the morning. Saturday I have the fund raiser event for the humane society. Sunday I have to clean up the house for guests for dinner Monday night. Then I have to spend Tuesday and Wednesday getting ready for our 2 day customer appreciation event at the thrift shop. I'm kind of hoping things slow down after that because I do want to enjoy a bit of summer to myself. It was supposed to rain today so I put off planting but will have to tackle that after yoga tomorrow.

Terra - by light summer meals I meant something simple and easy like salads or chicken salad and fruit - things that taste good when it's hot and don't require a lot of cooking or fussing. That's funny that you mentioned Valerie Bertinelli's DVD. I have the exact one. But I never unwrapped it so I can't tell you if it's good or bad.

Ceejay - what other benefits did you turn down if you don't mind my asking? We were lucky - we started looking into Medicare options in October for DH and that's when everyone is offering seminars to try and explain things. It sounds complicated but isn't. You just have to make sure if you defer taking Medicare that you have a qualified medical plan in place or you will get penalized. If you are continuing your medical plan at work until you leave, that more than likely counts as a qualified plan. I hope you get everything straight. Or maybe you can defer it until you understand it

Michelle - you ARE very busy. Make sure you take some time so you don't get burned out. Sometimes we have to say no, even though we don't want to. Good for you for getting the gym workout in. As for the color run, I believe they use a fine powder. I thought that was goofy but I am an old lady. Not sure I'd want that stuff in my face - the bubble run sounds like fun. How long are you house sitting for?

Laura - that's a good point about the fenders protecting your clothes from getting spattered. That's one good thing about the bikes at the gym - no dust, no splatters I see it was really hot by you earlier and now Mom said it was cold again. How is the garden supposed to know what it needs to do? I'm not sure if I would want to see the Mad Max movie - the original ones had a lot of violence in them - I'm sure they amped it up in this one. Ok, I'm squeamish. That is REALLY sweet of you to offer your co-worker a ride so she can get her colon checked. I think when we have a partner in life, sometimes it's hard to remember that single people have some additional challenges sometime. That is really nice of you to help out.

Hello to the rest of the lot. My eyes are dry and tired. I need to get to sleep - not only have I been away from yoga but Kundalini requires more effort than Hatha so I need all the energy I can get!

Have a good one and again, Happy Birthday to you Annie.

I am not posting regularly. Back to the 12 hour days again. And I will be working half a day tomorrow. And it looks like we are to be extended as well.

Back tomorrow with an update

Happy ~ Thanks for answering my question. I like Valerie's work out dvd. Are you ever gonna try it out?

Annie ~ Oh My Goodness I'm so so sorry I didnt wish you a happy birthday so I'm doing it now, Happy Birthday, I hope you have a wonderful birthday today.

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Woke up at 7:00 a.m. its now 7:45 a.m. I'm gonna watch my recorded t.v shows and then I'm gonna do an hour of exercising with my new work out dvd. I dont have any plans today. I gotta do the dishes before 2 today and I'm also gonna do another hour of working out before 2 p.m. as well. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sat. Take Care.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes. It is a tough day of work here and also missing my daddy a lot as we share the same birthday. Rejoice in heaven and I will party down here. Yeah!

Back to the grind stone. Have a marvelous day and weekend!!

Hugs to all.