Good morning to you all! I think I forgot to come in and post yesterday!

My poor Thomas has the chicken pox! He called me Friday night. I guess he, his parents and his other grandparents were going to go out to dinner on New Year's day and Pat noticed a couple spots on his neck. She said, "What's are these?" Thomas says, "Mosquito bites, I have a whole bunch of them on my stomach!" Kelly looked at them and sure enough. She said to Thomas, "Since when do you get mosquito bites in January?" He told her "Well, half of December it has been 70 degrees!" lol They have no idea who he was exposed to but the poor little guy has them bad. We went over yesterday and took him a couple puzzle books and his favorite candy, M and M's. He has them bad in his hair and down his throat and on his tongue so his throat is sore. He isn't itching though and I told him if he just can't stand it, put on some clean white socks and sort of pat where it itches. Kelly called out dil (nice to have a pharmacist in the family) and she said to just keep him on Benadryl and use the oatmeal baths. She said calamine lotion really doesn't work much for the itching.

I am so far behind on my cleaning I just have to get caught up today. Jack keeps telling me it is no big deal that the house looks clean even if I don't think it is, but you know me, I need to stay on my routine.

I have decided to start walking no matter what. I have to try it at least. I just don't seem to be as dedicated to exercise using the chair even though I do work hard and sweat and feel it afterwards. I seem to get up and get dressed and get out and walk after Jack leaves everyday if I walk. I will have to start out with shorter walks as we are up hill on all four sides but I am going to at least try it.

I am not going to try and do individual posts this morning. I need to get going on the house and make some progress.

Have a wonderful Sunday all!
Faye

Happy Sunday! Yes...that's right...a good day it is! I had planned on leaving for Va. Beach this afternoon but have decided to wait to leave EARLY tomorrow morning instead. Mom has been moved out of ICU and into a "step-down" room. She's getting chemo in with her dialysis now. And that makes me feel better knowing that the cancer that is still inside her surely cannot be growing again. She still cannot speak because of the tracheotomy but that will be closed up (or will heal on it's own) when she can clear out the flem in her throat. I hear she's getting frustrated with her lack of communication skills. She's too weak to write but she can use an alphabet board the nurses have given her.

We've put away the Christmas decorations and "discovered" a bookcase stored in the basement that had remained hidden since we moved into this house almost ten years ago. So, we managed to bring it up to the computer/home office and now I have an extra bookcase to store more cookbooks, knitting books, and novels. I feel like we went out and bought a new piece of furniture!

I haven't re-joined WW yet but I will. When I return from Va. Beach on Friday, that following Tuesday I'll re-join. I like the Tuesday morning leader. So that's my plan.

Jean, that is one thing Wayne said while we were in the very back of our basement digging out that bookcase, "We have got to send at least half of this stuff to Goodwill!" We also give to the American Cancer Federation--they take a lot of clothes and books. I have a ton of stuff! I agree with you--don't mind driving on snow but not ice!!

Donna Faye, do you know about the website: ravelry.com? It's a private knitting community and I'm always picking up great knitting tips...and seeing the most beautiful knitted projects. Sorry to hear that Thomas has the chicken pox. Bless his heart. Chicken pox seems like a rite of passage for kids doesn't it? I remember giving my girls those oatmeal baths and benadryl as well. I never cared too much for the calomine lotion--it is too messy and always gets on things or that could just be me being sloppy! Anyway, I hope he gets well soon--chicken pox down the throat and on the tongue sounds awful. Would ice cream soothe him?

Maggie, you have a cold?! Just got over mine. Hope you're feeling better soon. <passing the tissues to you>

Susan, I think I remember one post you posted awhile back about quilting material shopping and nothing spoke to you. That is how I am with yarn! I have a LOT of yarn stashed away. Rarely does yarn not speak to me.

Hello to all the newbies! I really am an upbeat person--I'm just going through a difficult time right now...

Good afternoon, ladies!

Have you seen the new WW commercial for Momentum with the orange stuffed toy called Hungry? I want one of those, in fact I want 2 of those, one for home and one for the office. I wish they would sell them at the meetings. I picked up WW 5 Ingredients 15 Minute Recipes today ($10 at Kroger). I think it probably came out sometime last year but the recipes look great and easy. By the way, the Potato Chowder in the Week 1 booklet is delicious. I made that yesterday.

I went to Church this morning then out for coffee with a couple from Church.

Faye, I'm sorry Thomas has the Chicken Pox - no fun. I had such a light case I never felt sick or itchy. I'm sure your house is just fine. Start out slow with your walking and gradually build up. I can't walk outside in the cold weather so I do my Walk Aerobic tapes. They are a lot of fun.

Jean, I know what you mean about wanting to get back on schedule. I was to the point I had to look at the newspaper to see what day it was. I will not be happy to quit working someday.

Gail, I'm glad your mother is improving. I'll keep her on our prayer circle.

Maggie, hope you are feeling better.

Hi, Gloria!

Have a good day!

Susan, Wayne will be retiring at the end of this month. He is choosing to say he will be semi-retired. He will need to keep working a little to keep from going crazy...and for us to get the nice extras we might want. I've thought about going back to work part time but with how things are down in Va. Beach, now is not the time. But I do understand about losing track of days--I do that all the time!!

Good morning to you all! I not only caught up on cleaning but got ahead a bit for the week so I only have dusting and vacuuming both floors. The darn pine needles have plugged up my vacuum somehow so it is overheating and it is less than 6 months old. I would like Jack to take it apart and clean it out, but I think he is afraid if he takes it apart he won't be able to put it back together again. Asking him about electricity or electronics and you have someone in the know, anything else, not so much!

My chair aerobics was 25 minutes and I walked all but the last cool down song and did it indoors in the chair, ie stretching and such so I feel pretty good about it. It is about half mile I think. My knee hurt a bit and my hips really hurt, but after I get some fat off them, they should settle down, that and walking consistently. My routine is 6 am watch Third Watch and knit, 7 exercise, 8 breakfast and then cleaning after that.

I am up a couple lbs, but no sweat. I did have some calorie laden stuff a couple days because we ate out a couple times. I am not saying I am back just continuing on.

Gail: So glad your mom is doing a bit better. Just takes what comes good or bad and deal with it as it comes. Don't hope too much, don't worry too much. We are all here for you. Jack is dying to retire. He is so fed up with working, but he can't retire until January 2016 so still has a few more years.

Susan: I have seen the little hungry monster several times on tv. He reminds me of this monster on a bugs bunny cartoon that bugs torments. Have you ever watched the tv show "Ruby" on style? It is a pretty interesting show about a morbidly obese woman trying to lose weight. So far she is down from 479 lbs to about 388. She is doing things for the first time or able to do things once again, like driving, going camping (ugh, that is something I would never do as a fatty. They would never get be out of the sleeping bag!) Besides, I hate anything that is camping and always have. Would you be willing to sneak me the potato chowder recipe sometime?

Jean: Ooh, it is cold here. I just wore a hooded sweater to walk and my hands were freezing by the time I was finished. I seem to be thawed out finally. I started out on the treadmill today, but gave it up after one song and went and got my sweater on and went out to walk. I just like it better. Nice fresh air and I don't have trouble stumbling like I do sometimes with our treadmill. Jack is the treadmill guy.

LaVon: You keep up the good work! You will get to goal in no time!

Have a good one ladies. It is a bowl of raisin bran, bottle of water and "The Sopranos" for me now.

Faye

Good afternoon, all. Well, the routine has started once again and it makes me happy. Next month is the big quilt show so I have something to look forward to - 5 days of great fun. Fortunately it is in my backyard, so to speak, being only 10 minutes from my house.

Faye, I'll email you the recipe. It's quick, easy, and very good. Maybe you need to wear gloves when you walk. I swear when my hands and/or feet get cold I feel like I am freezing. Some nights I wear socks to bed.

Jean, how close are you to getting SS? Do you think you can take those kids much longer? My "work" money pays some bills but I set aside some for fun and quilting.

Gail, guess you are in VA Beach by now. I hope things continue to improve for your mom.

I have Bible study tonight. We only had it once in December so it'll be nice to see everyone.

Have a good day - work is piled up, as usual!

Good morning ladies! It is cold and wet here again this morning. I know my knees, hands and ankles sure knew it was cold and wet.

Susan: I wear socks and a sweater almost all the time in the house. We try and keep the heat down to around 68 or so and the downstairs really gets cold. Like you, sometimes I have to wear socks to be, at least until the electric blanket warms things up. Funny thing though, I have to have a fan on for my head. I sweat like the dickens on my head.

We have to go and get the new car inspected so that when our paperwork gets here we can get the new tags. Jack wants retired Navy tags for the car, but they aren't too much more expensive than the regular ones. At least here, we don't pay an excise tax for a new car. In Indiana your tags are calculated according to the age of your car and a new car's tags are $$$$ of dollars. Ours are $117 per year. I told Jack that we will have two sets of tags due at the same time now because they are done according to your last name, not when you purchased the car.

Nothing much else going on. I did finish the body of the sweater and am well on my way with one sleeve so maybe just maybe I will get to wear it when we go to Indiana next month.

Everyone have a good day.
Faye

Good morning, ladies - raining and cold (well 41 degrees, so I know some wouldn't think that was cold).

Bible study was very interesting last night - Solomon and David. It was nice to see everyone after the long break.

Faye, I keep my house at 68, too. I might put it up to 70 on the weekends if I'm not going out. I just wear a sweater and cover with a quilt when I'm watching tv or reading. As fast as you knit, I know your sweater will be finished by your trip. We pay personal property tax on our cars, based on their value and age. Mine is $42 this year.

Well, I really should get back to work. Doing year end reports - UGH!

Good morning to all of you. Well, it has at least finally stopped raining. It poured down all day yesterday and we had to go and get the car inspected, which we did then got a bite of lunch and started for home. Oh, my gosh, there was a truck that was a double trailer driving like he was on speed. He came up behind us and was almost sitting in our back he was so close. He was whipping in and out of traffic, tailgating, and going over 70 on roads that had standing water from all the rain, the visibility was terrible because the rain was causing a fog like appearance. I emailed the trucking company and complained, but of course nothing will be done. As long as they pay these drivers by the mile, they will continue to drive like this. We have hundreds of truck through Memphis because we are sucha huge distribution area and they all drive like their pants are on fire.

Susan: I am sure Bible Study was interesting. Those are two very interesting biblical figures. Have you ever watched the "Naked Archaeologist" on I think it is the Discovery Channel. Very interesting show and he always has some compelling information about some biblical burial site or some building, etc. We enjoy it very much. I now am almost finished with one sleeve so hopefully in the next week I might be able to finish up and sew it up and show it off. I found I really enjoy the lace patterns more than I thought I would.

Jean: Maybe they will offer you a good incentive to just retire and enjoy the rest of your life with Bob. It seems to have gotten so contentious at your school with the students as well as the administration, it takes the love out of teaching at any level. I am thinking about talking to Kelly and finding out how I go about volunteering in T's class. They have parents come in and read and I know Pat does it from time to time. I never could because I couldn't work out the logistics of being at the school and picking up Jack.

I just finished paying all the bills and taking out the trash. Geez, seems parallel somehow... Everyone has to get their lb of flesh. I just paid the final installment on the insurance and it includes the new car so it was $400 instead of the $126 I pay most of the time. I am on a 4 month on 2 month off plan and we carry a low deductible on both cars so it is a bit pricier. Jack wanted to change the grand marquis but when I showed him the little amount we would save by changing to just liability, he said to forget it.

Well, better get the dishwasher unloaded and sit and knit for awhile. Jack has his yearly cardiologist appt today so I will go with him to that later this morning.

Have a great day all!
Faye

Good evening, ladies! Its warmish (58 degrees) but raining and the wind is howling.

A rather blah day today - just work and working on a new quilt pattern this evening. Rather tired so I'll go to bed at 9 after the National Body Challenge is on.

Did any of you see the people on Biggest Loser last night. They are huge. There is a young teenager who is well over 400 pounds as are several others. Some of them lost over 30 pounds that first week! I hope these people can get the weight off, especially the younger ones.

Jean, I hope the decision isn't too difficult for you. You'll take a big hit on you SS retiring at 63, but the kids may kill you before you much older.

Faye, I hope everything was okay with Jack's doctor visit. You'll have that sweater finished this week. I do enjoy the Naked Archaeologist. I also like the History Channel.

Maggie, we have something going on at our church every day and most evenings. Utilities are a big bite of the budget. We are asked to tithe 5% but no records are kept if you do or not, its left up to conscious. I love to be on the go in the summer, but I want to stay in in the winter, the cold is so hard on my asthma.

Have a good evening!