Michelle - it was GREAT chatting with you on FB this morning.

Mel - I have already hollered at her for both of us

Your Pepper soup sounds very close to what DH made this week. Except we used spaghetti noodles instead of rice. I did not care for it at all but DH loved it. Of course steak and peppers is not even close to being near to the 1,000 things I'd like to eat list

Busy working on doco and the dining room is maybe not the place for this. For some reason the back is becoming quite sore. I'm about to have a rest.
Nothing much new here.

Mel - recipe sounds nice

Happy - ouch on the knee and wrist. Silly billy you are. Why did you decide to fall over the kerb??

Michelle - slow and steady will do the trick. Probably at this time of healing you should be walking steadily to get get exercise, not twist and bend and dance. Shame but there it is. I add my voice to the chorus above

DS1 should be on his way north now. I look forward to seeing him when he arrives about Tuesday. I shall ring him later tonight for an update. Hope the weather warms up and improves before he gets here. Today has been quite cool. In fact I am wearing a jersey because I got so cold sitting here. Should get up and go for a walk or something.

Haven't heard from DS2 so he must be enjoying himself as well.

Aaah pain. I must get back to this doco. See you

LOTS OF HEALING WISHES FOR HAPPY AND MICHELLE


HAPPY....OMG!!! WHAT A MESS!! I CAN'T BELIEVE ALL THAT HAPPENED IN SUCH A SHORT TIME. I AM SO SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THE FALL AND ALL THE MONEY FOR TEETH & CARS!!! YIKES!! AND POOR DH TOO. I HOPE THE BUMPS AND BRUISES AND KNEE ALL HEAL FAST!! GLAD TO KNOW YOU DIDN'T BREAK ANYTHING AT LEAST. SENDING GOOD THOUGHTS YOUR WAY I THINK THE CHICKS ARE LUCKY THAT I DON'T DO FACEBOOK!


SHAD...YOUR POOR BACK SITTING OVER THIS DOCO!! HAVE A GREAT VISIT WITH DS1. HOPE TOO THE WEATHER IS GOOD SO YOU BOTH CAN GET OUT AND ABOUT. HAVE FUN.


GOOD MORNING. HAPPY SUNDAY!
NOTHING NEW HERE. JUST TAKING IT EASY YESTERDAY MADE ME FEEL ALMOST LIKE MY OLD SELF AGAIN. I AM GLAD WE HAVE THE 3 DAY WEEKEND. MORE SMOKE ALARMS. NOW EITHER WE BURN A LOT OF STUFF IN THIS HOUSE OR THESE FRIGGING ALARMS ARE GETTING MORE SENSITIVE!!!
I AM OFF TO GET BREKKIE AND I BETTER. HAVE A WONDERFUL SUNDAY/MONDAY!

Good morning all,
Yesterday I was soooooo mad I was swearing a blue streak and throwing myself about. The end of this month is sign up for medical and dental benefits for next year's plan. Those #()%&&@#&@*&%$%$+(#)* insurance companies are a piece of CRAP. My medical insurance premium is going up $175 a MONTH. it is now TWICE what it was when I first signed up after DH got dumped from his job in 2009.

The insurance companies are blaming Obamacare BUT the fact is that they have to now drop the lifetime maximum clause on insurance. Before if you got cancer or some devastating disease, they could drop you for costing them too much. Funny how they never complain about TAKING your money, only about paying claims. Now they are jumping on the bandwagon saying this will cost them billions so they are GOUGING us on premiums. Go to any insurance companies main headquarters and you will see the most beautiful buildings - built with your money. Yet they cry poor poor poor. I HATE INSURANCE COMPANIES - they are the scourge of this earth.

This means our retirement insurance will almost be unaffordable. I refuse to pay that much money. Refuse. I went to the doctor alot this year and got my money's worth - simply because I had good insurance and was paying alot for it. Told DH that we have to rethink things - will probably go to the high deductible plan and take the money that we would have paid in premiums and stick in in a savings account to pay for medical expenses as they occur. And I just won't go to the doctor for anything other than what I absolutely need - like thyroid pills. Forget the boob squeezes - no history of cancer on my side - forget the annual check ups.

This country is in a sad, sad state. A kid signs a contract and gets $300,000 per episode to read 10 lines in a 30 minute weekly comedy yet half the country is struggling. Someone like Mel routinely get audited and messed up, DH can't find a job and what little we have, they are squeezing us to death. Yet the rich get richer. It is becoming like England of old with royalty and serfs.

Got myself all worked up again. Got to calm down. Focus on what I want in life. I also need to get off the expensive metformin for the blood sugar - losing weight and changing the eating habits have to be a priority. HAVE TO. Can't afford medical and medicine if we want to retire and I don't want to stay in this horrid town a minute more than I have to.

Sorry to be such a crabber today. I'm just fed up.

Guess I'll take this anger and put it to good use scrubbing the floor Hope you all have a good day.

Thanks for the good thoughts Mel. I'm glad you are feeling like the Mel of the good old days. Try to keep that feeling.

Shad - did you get the doco done? How nice to see DS1 again - is he the one in NZ? How long of a visit?

I need to make some phone calls - talk to you later...

oh and last bit about the insurance - it's either single or family plan. Some genuis figured that one out - I have to pay 2 and a half times my rate to cover DH. Someone with 5 kids and a spouse pays exactly what I do. So I get gouged for adding one person while the more people you add, the cheaper it gets. And they are really sticking it to the people who cover domestic partners - they pay the family rate AND a premium on top of that. I don't see how that can be legal. I told DH we are just going to adopt 2 families and we will all split the premium amongst us - much cheaper that way.

HAPPY....I'M SORRY TO HEAR YOUR NEWS ABOUT MEDICAL COSTS. THAT'S TERRIBLE! WHY IS IT ALWAYS SUCH A PROBLEM IN ONE OF THE RICHEST COUNTRIES TO GET MEDICAL HELP AT A DECENT COST? THE PRICES IN THE HOSPITALS FOR AN ASPIRIN ARE OUTRAGEOUS. MEDICAL CARE IN THE USA IS A JOKE. BUT....YOU CAN ADOPT ME & JEN AND THEN RICHIE...WE'LL BE THE 2 FAMILIES YOU NEED TO LOWER THE INS. PREMIUMS. BUT LET ME GO OUT AND FIND ALL OF US A JOB FIRST SO WE CAN HELP OUT!!

Hey everybody.

Mel - Glad you're feeling better today. Sorry the alarms seem to be happening more frequently. Are the people in your building setting them off by reading steamy novels?

Michelle - I third the opinion of everyone (or is that 4th?) - just take it easy! Get that pedometer clipped on and start back into exercise with some walking.

Happy - So sorry to hear about your fall!! I'm glad it wasn't serious like the last fall you mentioned. And sorry about the expensive dental problems AND the whopping insurance costs. When it rains it pours! Now I'm nervous about what's in store during my employer's open enrollment for health benefits. They've been trying to encourage us to enroll in the high deductible plan the past couple years. I imagine that will continue with even stronger "encouragement" this year. Hope they're still trying the carrot approach and don't move to sticks.

Shad - I always get uncomfortable when working at home - not as ergonomically correct of a setup at home. Hope ds1 has good weather for his visit. When will ds2 be back for this little family reunion?

Hellos to annie, ceejay & cincy!

Yesterday was spent cleaning and then bf's mum arrived around 3 pm just as we finished walking doggy. Bf did all the cooking - it was great. . Lovely day so we sat outside for a bit and then in the 3-season room until dinner was ready. Dinner was a pork roast, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Yum.

After bf's mom had gone home, we looked at some old home videos - footage taken 11 years ago during the inspection of the house we live in now (we still laugh at the previous owner's decor), during our first Christmas in the house, at one of our first parties here, and at the zoo. That was fun viewing.

Not up to much today. I read most of the morning both indoors and out, harvesting some more garden veggies, and I just returned the raincoat at the Land's End outlet, not too far from home (more convenient than shipping it back). I didn't re-order the coat in a larger size because I tried on the same coat at the outlet in one size larger and of course it was too big - sleeves too long, body of it too baggy. I did order a pair of convertible mittens (fingerless gloves w/ a mitten flap over them). They must have known I wanted mittens - last year they only had gloves.

Well, it's past lunchtime and I'm getting hungry. Have to get bf's a$$ in gear and get something. Also better tune in to the Bears-Carolina Panthers game and see how that's going. Oh how I wish I had Columbus Day as a holiday!!

Bye for now ladies!

Morning all,
Well we have the worst weather in many years at the moment. I have decided to stay home today since the creeks are swollen and flooding across roads and the local river that they feed is now 3 metres above normal. Water is lying down the side of the house and on the back lawn. It is draining into the next door yard and that poor man has water coming into one part of his house. As I said to the work people, I may get out but I may not get home so I am not going. I'll try to get in touch with DS1 today - he is driving up from Adelaide and tell him to be careful of all the water around. I'll probably get told to stop fussing, but how does one stop.

I haven't finished Micks doco yet. Ran into a few problems and then had to fight Microsoft for formatting problems and finally threw my hands up in the air and rewrote parts without formatting and slotted it in where I could. Sometimes I could strangle Microsoft. I will be getting onto it today. Should get it done by days end. But I will be moving around more today instead of just sitting here working.

Happy - so sorry to hear about the Medical insurance fiasco. What a pain. Makes me so pleased that I don't have to face things like that and that I set up my own savings for medical stuff years ago. Insurance has always been a tricky thing. On one hand the insurance company tries hard not to pay out and on the other, people try to get money out of insurance for some very nefarious injuries, losses and burglaries. It's a catch 22 and as with most of those, the people who try to play fair, who don't try to rort the system or only take enough to get them through the worst, and those who don't have choices are the ones who seem to end up paying.
Bet the floors are sparkling now!

Mel - I swear those alarms are getting more and more sensitive and I find it ridiculous that I can go to Brisbane Airport and put my bag through the x-ray machine and nothing happens. Then I get to Melbourne Airport and they want to see what's inside because they think I have something dangerous. Same bag, same contents, what gives? Chris brought in a swiss army knife in the bottom of her hand luggage through Sydney. They put the bag through the x-ray twice and moved it around a bit and then let it go. Obviously she looks harmless enough. She had forgotten it was there. She had only been saying a while back that she couldn't find it and must have lost it. Don't they know that this is one very dangerous woman???

Laura - DS1 lives in Adelaide in South Australia. He is coming up for 3 weeks and DS2 will be back next weekend.
Man that pork roast sounded good. Pity DS1 is vegetarian otherwise I might have one for his homecoming.

Right since I am home and it is still raining I had better get on with the job.
Ha Ha just watching the news and looking at the flooded bits of the city. One street has a sign out - Caution, Water over Road - trouble is that the water is 2/3rds of the way up the sign and the only words visible are - Caution Water - Yesterday we had 4 inches of rain, overnight another 8 near enough and we haven't quite seen the worst yet apparently although it is supposed to ease tomorrow.

See ya

HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY!!
& HAPPY CANADIAN THANKSGIVING!

TWO HOLIDAYS...DOES THIS MEAN WE CAN DOUBLE THE PARTYING???
I WOKE UP LATE THIS MORNING. GUESS IT'S THE RAIN. FELT GOOD TO SLEEP IN. THE BLDG IS SO QUIET TODAY. SOME PEEPS WERE COMPLAINING THAT THEY HEAR A "MOTOR RUNNING" SOMEWHERE IN THE BLDG AT NIGHT. I HEAR IT TOO...LASTS ABOUT 5 MINUTES. THEY WANT ME TO FIND IT! PROBABLY SOMEONE GVING THEMSELVES A BREATHING TREATMENT.
I SHOULD MAKE A SIGN FOR THE LOBBY...THIS BLDG HAS ZERO TOLERANCE FOR ANYONE AND ANYTHING!!!
NOTHINGNEW TO REPORT. SPENT TIME WITH JEN. SHE'S NOT DOING AS WELL AS I AM AND ACTUALLY HAD TO SEE A DR. HE SAID LET IT RUN IT'S COURSE AND GAVE HER SOME MEDS AND TOLD HER TO DRINK GATORADE. SO GOING TO BE A QUIET WEEK FOR HER NOW.
HAPPY MONDAY/TUESDAY



LAURA...STEAMY NOVELS!! TOO FUNNY CAUSE THAT'S ALL THEY READ!! THE WEEKEND SOUNDED GREAT AND TASTY!! HOW CUTE IS THAT WATCHING THE VIDEOS YOU'VE MADE. LOTS OF MEMORIES THERE. HOPE YOUR JOB DOESN'T GET THE "STICKS" OUT FOR INSURANCE ENCOURAGEMENT!! YIKES!! WHAT WAS FOR LUNCH?? LEFTOVER PORK ROAST? I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE A 3 SEASON ROOM. SOMETIMES I THINK THAT OUR COMMUNITY ROOM IS LIKE THAT CAUSE THEY KEEP TELLING ME IT'S TOO COLD IN THE WINTER YOU NEED TO WORK FOR THE GOVT...THEY GET ALL THESE HOLIDAYS OFF!!


SHAD....OMG...TOO FUNNY ABOUT CHRIS AND THE ARMY KNIFE. THAT FIGURES THAT A KNIFE CAN GO THRU BUT ONE OF MY FRIENDS HAD A BOTTLE OF SHAMPOO QUESTIONED HOPE YOUR BACK IS FEELING BETTER AND THE DOCO IS DONE NOW. THE RAINS WERE LIKE THAT HERE FOR A FEW DAYS....YOUR POOR NEIGHBOR!! HOPE YOU AND SUNDAY ARE STAYING HIGH & DRY AND THE DS1 IS NOT HAVING ANY PROBLEMS GETTING THERE!! THE WEATHER HAS GONE BESERK MORESO THAN LAST YEAR. SOON WE'LL BE SWITCHING WEATHERS AND YOU'LL HAVE YOUR FIRST WHITE CHRISTMAS

Good morning folks,

Got to bed way too late last night, slept a little bit longer to try and make up for it (not really) so I'm tired and running behind today.

Catch you later...

Hi ladies -

I took all of your advice and did not Zumba. I did a bit of walking and lots of playing with the dogs. Yesterday, I had a bout of numbness down my leg and got very frustrated. This shot had better work!

I'm not going to give up hope though. I'm still going to do traction at PT, which pulls my vertebrae apart so the disks can get sucked back into place. And I'm going to continue with my core strengthening exercises. And eat healthy.

DH and I were driving around looking at the lovely fall colors, and it really made me wish we could've gone hiking on the beautiful, colorful wooded trails rather than drive by them. I'm so not done doing fun stuff like that!!

Anyway, I've got to get back to work. I'll check in later.

Love and hugs to all,

Happy Monday everyone! That's my impression of perky.

Shad - Wow, that's a lot of rain - I'm sure the reservoirs have their fill now. Hope it stops soon and that ds1 has a safe drive up. Re the security at the airport - when I traveled last year, I had my mace confiscated from my purse. BF's mother had given it to me a few months prior to that and I totally forgot I had it in there. Doh! I still haven't replaced it yet, but its pink case is sitting around somewhere.

Mel - LOL re zero tolerance for anything! Actually, yesterday's late lunch/early dinner was just a beef pot roast sandwich and soup from Culver's. I suppose that can be considered a fast food restaurant (so I'm not exactly ON PLAN), but the sandwich is actually quite lean (and tasty), but it was the soup that turned out to be not so great nutritionwise...Post TOM weigh-in today showed me down a pound, but I need to get on the ball with the food logging or I'll just keep fluctuating up and down the same couple pounds.

Happy - Not such a good start to your Monday! Hope your knee is feeling better today. Make sure you get to bed at a reasonable time tonight!!

Michelle - Glad you took it easy this weekend. I drove past a forest preserve yesterday and the colors are beautiful, but not at their peak yet. Some gorgeous colors in our neighborhood too! So what do your doctors think about one of those home inversion contraptions that turn you upside down and are supposed to take pressure off your spine? Wonder if doing that for a short time each day would be helpful.

Hellos to Annie, Cincy & Ceejay!

Nothing much to report. Bf and I watched part of the original Wall Street movie last night. I was sort of bored actually, but it was funny seeing the trappings of the 80's. We'll probably finish watching the rest of it tonight. Wait, I think we're going to have to go grocery shopping instead. I dunno.

Pretty quiet here today since 2 dept members are out of the office and there are no meetings today. It's a nice day today so I'll definitely get out at lunch.

Okay, back to the salt mines!

Hey all,

Back again, hopefully people will leave me alone so I can post - yah think?

Michelle - if you are getting numbness from just walking I have to believe that it was very wise of you to skip the jumbling Zumba class - even if it does make you sad. I think that's one of the hardest things to accept about getting older - things will take their sweet time to heal, even if we are eager to get on with stuff. I do hope this last shot takes. My SIL from WI called yesterday to find out what was going on and after we chatted we talked about the fall colors. She said because you had such a rainy summer, the colors are just brilliant this year. I think because we are darn near in drought conditions here, our colors will be very blah this season. Leaves are turning brown and falling here with just a hint of yellow here and there. I'm glad Doppler at least had a good time being frisky

Laura - oh the joys of a pot roast sandwich You've got me drooling now - was looking for something different to have for dinner this week- I think you just helped me out! What fun to look at old videos of your house. I sort of wish we had kept more pictures and journals of time passing. It's neat to revisit that. As long as YOU haven't kept the same decorations Isn't it frustrating about the coat not fitting and the next size being too large? I think the quality of the clothing is going downhill. I buy things from Coldwater Creek (on sale) and have found the quality is really getting bad. Some shells and sweaters start to fray after only 2 washings.

Mel - did you find that troublesome motor yet? "Get your motor running... head out on the highway... looking for adventure... in whatever comes our way - BORN TO BE WILD!!!!" Get them wheels of fire going and find that pesky asthmatic. I'll bet that sometimes you just laugh at the foolishness of what they ask you. No better feeling that flipping the pillow and getting a few extra zzzzz's on a rainy day. Doze if you can't go puddle jumping!

Mel said the c-word. :rolf: Notice how easily she worked it in

Ok, so WHY are we celebrating Columbus Day? Yay -so old Chris decided that hey - there's land yonder. So there it say from 1492 until the 1600's when the English dissidents were looking for a place to relocate... Meanwhile they were loading up Australia with convicts (from where I might ask).

Shad - it is almost incomprehensible to me that you are under the great flood waters considering the parched land of just a few years back. I have to believe this is highly unusual. Hope you don't have to sandbag the house. The weather is getting more goofy - who says there's no global warming? So how long is DS1 staying to visit? That is IF he can get in. Might have to borrow a dingy to go get him.

Well 1 minute after I started this note and said maybe no one will bother me, my phone rang and it was the boss following up on my fall. I think I would have been better off just rolling off the pavement and into my class for all the commotion this is causing. I have some other comments but will keep them in my head.

I need to get back on my monthly reports. Hello to Annie, Cinci, Ceejay and Patty.

Happy
I fully understand about the insurance problems. One thing I found out from my insurance is that each different doctor you see there's a 1000 deductible. I usually end up paying for my dr's visit's. The insurance company paid next to nothing on the sinus surgery but to my luck the NEA hospital wrote off the biggest part of it. Insurance companies are a big rip off.
Hope you are feeling better.


Michelle
I hope you didn't get on the lawn mower. Your back is not ready for that.

More later. I'm needing to back wash a filter. And I have the stand by for water/sewer plus electric stand by person out.


I just got back from having class but I'm still not liking the fact that I feel cheated in some way's.

Morning all,
Lordy but I am tired. Just plain bone weary and I don't know why and it is driving me crazy. Woke up with a stinking headache this morning and although it has now gone away, I am left with the numb feeling. I do not want to feel numb.

Happy - I did notice Mel's reference to the C-word. She is wishing a white one on me. I can do without you know.
As for the English loading up Australia with convicts - many of them came from Ireland. And they were transported for such minor offences as stealing a piece of bread or casting aspertions on the local lords wife or something equally silly. The British were determined to 'tame' Ireland. They still haven't managed that yet.
We have heavy rainfalls during the summer. It's tropical weather, however this is unseasonal because it is early spring. All up we have had over 300mm of rain in Brisbane - that is 1 foot of water. All our dams are now full - from 17% to over 100% in less than a month. Strangely enough the dams at Toowoomba are still very low and we are pumping water up there rather than sending it over the spillway. This is the first time in over a decade that water has been allowed to escape over the spillway. People flocked to the dams to see the phenomonem (sp??) But please Lord, we have had enough for the time being. The entire normal summer rainfall has fallen in 3 days.

Mel - I do hope Jen gets better soon. To have such an extreme reaction is really bad news. Meantime go put a sign on the building stating that anyone with an iq of more than 127 and who has any bright ideas is not allowed in. Then you need another one leaving off the iq. Stupidity abounds.

Laura - A quiet day in the office - not to be sneezed at, unless you have nothing to do. Pot roast sandwiches. oooooh yum.

Michelle - good for you on taking the advice so nicely given by your worldly sisters. Glad to hear Dop is doing so well. Just think, if you set a slow but steady goal to be at a weight that will take the stress off your back by next fall, you too could be tramping in the woods come next autumn.

I rung DS1 yesterday to see how far he had got, but he was just leaving Adelaide. He has a drive of 2550km (rough maths = 1600 miles) I told him about the flooding and he said he would be careful and stay on the high ground. I asked him to ring me last night to tell me where he was. I didn't get a call. He seems to think he will be here today. I wish him luck, but then he is a lot younger than me. I did the 1750km from Mellbourne in 2 days and was wiped out for another two. If he does get in today then he will just have to sit and wait for me to get home because we hadn't organised a place for the keys or the remote for the gate.

I feel like I am rambling, so I will remove myself from here and get on with studying my nails or something. Maybe another coffee will help.
Have a good day.