Good morning to you all. We are headed for some balmy 70+ temps for a couple days so it will probably be off with the furnace on with the ac again. I swear it can't make up its mind, but I sure don't mind the nice weather. I let Fortune out this morning and it is nice and warm almost 60right now. It is supposed to be upper 60's today then 75 tomorrow then back to the 60's for the beginning of next week.

Jean: I hope Jason and Amanda can make the right decision for themselves. I know that if they go, it will be very hard to have them and the little ones so far away. Hope you don't get too much more snow and that maybe your temps will raise and melt everything. It is hard to believe Jackson will be 6 months old on Monday. Seems like only yesterday we were scurrying around to get up there on time. As for gift wrapping, come on over to my house and do it, please!!!!!! Everything is sitting piled up by kid on the bed in the guest room. I did look in the closet to see if I had wrapping paper, but then walked out the door and closed it behind me. I have to get going on it, but you know I hate, hate, hate to wrap stuff. Since the kids don't want to exchange with adults at all, at least I only have all the grandsons' stuff to do.

I have a lot of housework I want to get done this weekend so I hope I am feeling up to it. Right now I have a sore back, but that is usually from having to sleep on it all night long. I am hoping getting up and moving around will loosen me up a bit.

I have developed an allergy to the tapes being used on my incision and have long red sections across my tummy that itch like the devil. We have changed tapes several times even trying to get the sensitive stuff but.... Anyway, I guess I am going to have to keep looking or suffer. The stuff sure does itch. I take Benadryl at night so I can sleep, but it makes me dopey so I don't want to take it in the daytime.

My work isn't doing itself so I better get going. Have a nice weekend all!
Faye

Good morning gals! It is nice and balmy here this morning. We got up into the low 70's yesterday and it is raining to beat the band right now. It says it is 67 and supposed to get up to 71 today then back down to 56 then up to 75 on Tue and Wed and slowly cool back off. The weather says we have a dense fog advisor for towns north of us and towards Arkansas west so glad we aren't traveling this morning. I hate fog. It is so claustrophobic.

Jean: I miss Jay, Alicia and Jackson not seeing them very often, but I have to understand that no matter what, my kids aren't going to live in the same place. They have good jobs where they are and though Jay would like living here, Tom would never want to move far from his parents I think. Let's just hope if he decides to take the job, they will be able to get back home as often as they can or you will be able to go there. So, how much snow did you end up with? The South Bend newspaper said they were in for some nasty icy weather and I hope Jay calls today and lets us know he is ok. He is supposed to be getting us a hotel deal with his hotel manager friend, but I haven't heard anything yet. My gift pile is still sitting on the bed if you've a mind to come here and wrap We finished the upstairs including Jack shampooing the carpets since we finally got the machine back about a week ago. They look so nice and smell so fresh now. That probably won't last long with pets. I hope to get the downstairs done today, but we shall see. Maybe I will just be lazy.

I better go and clean up the mess Fortune made from breakfast. I see there is dog food on the living room carpet.

Have a nice Sunday everyone!
Faye

Good Monday morning to everyone! We vegged out yesterday and did not a thing except I did laundry and stripped and remade the bed. So, today I have to kick behind and get stuff done.

Jean: Jay called yesterday and said their weather was really bad. Alicia had to go to work, but he and the baby were staying put because there was a lot of ice out on the roads. I am keeping my fingers crossed that kind of weather is not going on when we are up there. I can imagine your frustration over the food, but like you said, you now have card club food and don't have to make stuff. Hope your weather improves so it is easier to get out and about. It is in the 50's today but supposed to be 78 tomorrow so who knows with weather here.

We sat and watched a History Channel program about Pearl Harbor that was pretty good yesterday where they reenacted stuff to see if it was true about what was told as happening then we watched the latest Fantastic 4 movie, which was pretty good, actually. I sat and played hidden object games on the computer and basically did nothing at all for the day.

We are looking forward to leaving a week from Friday for Indiana and seeing the kids and the family. It will be fun for Jackson as Jay says he is really into grabbing and has a pretty firm grip so he should have fun with his presents. We are hoping the train we bought makes lots of noise, family grandparent tradition passed down. Jay was given this train by his great grandfather that was just the engine but it toot tooted, whistled the whole nine yards and when it would run into something would spin around make this awful loud engine noise and keep going. Jay, of course, loved it, but it was the bane of our existence. Combine that with those "popcorn popper" type toys and brother! So, being good grandparents we are passing on the noise traditions!

Enough stalling, to work, to work!
Faye

Good morning, ladies! 75 degrees here in VA. We had a beautiful weekend. I took Stan out looking for new shoes. He needs 11 EEE and they are very hard to find. Needless to say, we didn't find any. I guess I'll have to shop on line and hope they fit.

I actually posted on Thursday last week but it seems to have disappeared into cyber space.

Faye, I'm with you on gift wrapping - I'm the queen of the gift bag. That's the best I can do. I hate gift wrapping.

I have a covered dish to go to tomorrow - with the quilt guild. Guess I'll make some brownies. They always seem to go over well. For some reason, we never get many dessert things at this function.

Faye, the baby is so cute! He sure is doing well and growing like a weed. I know you are anxious to see him. Maybe you could knit him some stockings. Stan has worn a hole in the toe of the one I made him so now I have to darn it.

Jean, I hate to think about ice and snow. I'm glad we live here for the weather. I don't know how I'd get Stan to dialysis in your weather.

Good Tuesday morning all! It is supposed to get into the upper 70's today but I see South Bend is still getting ice and snow. It is supposed to be in the 40's next Thursday so I sure hope the warming trend will continue and melt everything because it looks like it is going to be nasty until then.

I had a nice long post and lost the whole thing so you are going to get a modified version this morning as I need to get to work on the kitchen. I ran out of steam, in fact overdid it yesterday because I shampooed the dining room carpet besides cleaning the downstairs so I still have the kitchen to clean. While I was in the hospital, Jack got me a steam mop and I really like it. It makes mopping floors a whole lot easier and all it uses is water. No bending over to wring out or squeeze a mop, no residue from those Swiffer type mops, it just uses steam and does a really decent job of it.

I am kind of down in the dumps. I read the South Bend paper online everyday and last Friday I think it was, I read an article about this Mexican lady who made and sold homemade tamales out of her home. She had a husband and 4 children, 12-3 years old. She ran out of ingredients, left to go to the local little Mexican store by her house, still wearing her apron and was found 2 days later about a mile from her parents home, dead in her van. So far, the only thing they have released is she was stabbed. Something with this story just struck a cord with me and it has made me feel so bad for her family. He reported her missing right away and the police actually started looking right away, but until someone who had heard the story and spotted her van across the street from her house and reported it, they didn't know where she went. She had bought all her ingredients so she was stabbed sometime after leaving the store. Those poor little kids are coming up to Christmas and have to now go to the funeral of their mom.

Susan: Hope you can find Stan his shoes. When Jay was a baby, his feet were so wide and fat that we had to buy him Striderites and they were like $25 a pair back then. We couldn't afford them, but regular shoes just didn't fit. We continually had to scrape together money to buy him shoes because he grew so fast. As he grew his feet adjusted, but he has huge feet now and luckily can afford to buy special made shoes.

Jean: Hope your weather improves because that would mean that maybe Indiana would get the improvement sooner or later! lol I think Susan and I should box up our gifts, ship them to you to wrap and you should ship them back!

Well, gals short I know, but I really gotta tackle the kitchen and get the laundry in the dryer and put on some dinner rolls to rise for tonight.

Have a good day today and hope it turns out the way you want.
Faye

Good morning ladies - 75 degrees yesterday, 50 degrees today! By Christmas we'll all be sick.

Faye, can you use the steam mop on ceramic tile floors? Sounds like something I'd like.

Jean, maybe you can get rested up after Christmas before school resumes. If your tired and getting 8-hours sleep, you might consider having your thyroid checked.

I ended up making a big veggies and dip tray for the covered dish. I need something to fill up on so I can sample some of the good stuff.

Have a great day!

Good morning ladies. Fortune jumped off the bed and I decided to bring him down here so Jack could sleep his last two hours undisturbed. I went ahead and fed him so that if I choose, I can go back to bed after Jack gets up without the dog driving me nuts about being fed.

I received the little rocker and it is adorable except for one thing. I remember the mess Jean had with the rocking horse and thought about her with regards to ours. If you remember, it is a baseball glove for a seat and a baseball with a baseball cap on it for the head. On the cap are different shapes and by pressing a shape you get a song. Well, they didn't play, but there were tags attached that said the on the underside was velcro and the battery box was inside it and all you needed to do was turn it on. We turned it over and it wasn't velcroed but a long zipper with no zipper pull!!! Jack had to take the rocker part off then take the wood block off and found that the manufacturer broke off the pull completely so that they could bolt it down. We worked for 45 minutes trying to get the zipper pulled down enough to put the rocker back on, but to no avail. I was furious and took pictures and scanned in the tags along with copying the Penney website information about the rocker. I then sent an email with it all to Penneys and complained big time. I can't send it back because another one won't get back here or even to Jay's house if I had it shipped direct by Christmas and even if I did, who's to say we wouldn't get another one just like it. They ship directly from the manufacturer not Penney's warehouse.

Susan: I finally forced myself to wrap gifts. I did Jackson's last night and I will tackle Thomas's tonight. The cat drove me nuts until we finally put him in our walkin closet until I was finished. By the time I was done, I was ready to pull my hair out so I am not looking forward to tonight, but I need to get it done. The steam mop can be used on any type flooring. There are two brands I have seen on infomercials, the H2O Steam Mop and the one I bought which is the Shark Steam Mop. I will send you the website to you email address.

Jean: Jay and Alicia haven't said whether or not they took Jackson to see Santa. Maybe if the weather is good, it is something Nonny can do with him on Saturday while we are up there and get his picture taken. I wondered whether or not you got what Des Moines did. They are sure in a mess it seems. Yesterday it was really warm here and very humid. It is still warm this morning and looks like it rained overnight. When do you get out of school for Christmas break, next Friday?

I get to be lazy today. I have all the house finished now so I can do what I want. At this point, I want to sleep! I will probably just crawl up in the recliner until Jack gets up and then if I am still tired just go back up and go to sleep for a bit. My hip was hurting last night so it took awhile to sleep on to of getting up twice to go to the bathroom. One of the bp meds I am on is a diuretic so I never sleep through the night anymore.

Everyone have a great hump day!
Faye

Good morning - 73 degrees!

Faye, that Shark is just what I need. We have ceramic tile in the kitchen, breakfast room and baths. The Swifter left a residue that made them slippery, a lot of cleaners do so I was having to rinse. This should be perfect. Several of our tenants at work usually give me Target gift cards for Christmas. If they do this year, the Shark will come to live with us before New Year's!

Jean, I hope the snow and ice haven't made things bad for you! No thanks, I've had enough snow for a lifetime.

Ladies, I used to be like you, wake up several times in the night and not be able to get back to sleep. The doctor put me on a depression medication that I take before bed to help with it and it did for about a month. Now I'm back to waking up at 4 and not being able to get back to sleep so I guess I'll see if he wants to change it when I go next week for my asthma check up.

Good morning ladies. Fortune wanted to be fed so instead of fighting with him on and off the bed, I just came downstairs to feed him. I am still pretty sleepy, but I can always go back to bed after Jack gets up if I wish. At least he can sleep until 5 without the animals all over him.

Susan: The shark uses cloth pads you just put in the washer after each use. It comes with two, but I bought an extra set. I just wash them and lay them on the top of the dryer to air dry. You aren't supposed to put them in the dryer because of shrinkage. I have to say I like not having to deal with soap, mop, bucket, etc or the swiffer stuff, that I found left streaks of yuck on my floor if the pad got even a little dirty. I think you will really like it.

Jean: Sounds like the little brats are a rumblin' to get out of school. If I were you and got stuck with the two girls, I would make them sit on opposite sides of the room when they came into study hall, fix their cookies. I talked to Jay yesterday afternoon and he says Jackson looks like a little beaver with those two bottom teeth sticking out. I am still waiting to hear from Penney's if they aren't too cowardly to answer about it. The darn thing is so cute that it is sad it doesn't live up to what it is supposed to. I know the baby will like it.

I have finally started knitting again and have T's rat scarf almost halfway done. I am on the 3rd rat of 8. It was just one of those weird things where I just didn't want to knit, but yesterday decided I wanted to get his rat scarf done and worked on it and the sweater I had started for my girlfriend for her birthday. I have to knit in small time frames for right now though as my right hand will start hurting. I can tell I haven't been knitting for 8 weeks. Will have to build up some stamina in the ole hands.

Everyone have a great day. Don't get wet or too cold!
Faye

75 yesterday, 55 today! Good morning, ladies.

:cb :That's for you getting back to knitting, Faye! I can't believe it's been 8 weeks! You were always making something. I still have 1 quilt and 1 table runner to finish for Christmas gifts.

Jean, I agree with Faye, separate those girls! It's unbelievable what kids get away with these days.

I think Sunday will be the shortest day of the year - I'm all for sunlight.