Good morning to you all. My hips were killing me upstairs in bed so I came down to balance my checkbook, check facebook and post to you gals. I have a busy weekend. We got a phone call last night and are going to have a surprize visitor tonight. Tom and Kelly are going out with friends and Thomas had a choice which grandparents to stay with so he called granddad last night and asked if he could stay overnight. We told him absolutely not, he was a bratty kid...... Like that would ever, ever happen. Anyway, we have Jack's eye appt and my eye check then rush home and clean house and get his room ready, then pick him up at 6 and out to dinner. I figure we will take him to Chilis. His parents don't like Chilis and he loves that chocolate volcano thing they have. He has a cooking class at noon tomorrow so we will just give him a late breakfast before he leaves. The cooking institute is only about 5 miles from our house so it is convenient. We will hop in the car then and run to the commissary and get groceries.

Jean: The comment about the grapefruit and Bob was interesting. Why does it interfere? I ask because Jack takes Zocor, which is the same thing basically. Is it all citrus? I wouldn't know because Jack only drinks oj and never eats any citrus especially grapefruit. I like the lovely pink grapefruit myself. I think it is much sweeter. My grandfather ate grapefruit every day of his adult life. He would have 2 pieces of toast, grapefruit and coffee. Grandma even had these beautiful silver spoons with serrated edges to get out the sections. She would fix us pancakes once in awhile, but he always ate the same thing. We used to "house" college kids from groups like that when we lived in Indiana. We once had several stay at our apartment and all did a slumber party routine in the living room. We had a huge 2000 sq ft apartment and the living room was very big. It was fun.

Susan: Your dinner does sound yummy. I fixed Faye's Stuff last night for dinner with rice. You are such a fountain of information. The computer thing was something Thomas would pop out at me. My vision actually improved a little from last visit. I am very nearsighted and have been since I was 11. I have been wearing contacts continually for about 11 years now. Jack actually wore contacts way back in the early 70's when they were hard. He said he could only stand to wear them about 45 minutes before they drove him nuts. I remember he bought them when he got hi re-up $10,000 bonus from the Navy. They didn't last him long.

I guess I better go. I have things I could do before I have to shower and get ready to go to the eye dr's. Have a great Saturday. It was so nice and warm yesterday and look at what it is going to be like here for the next week. Sandals, here I come. Faye

Good afternoon, ladies! Nice day in the middle 40s. I think spring might come on schedule. Next weekend we turn the clocks ahead.

I went to WW this morning and was gratified to have a 2 pound loss for hard work last week. 2.5 pounds and I'll be back in the 150s. I'm working on attaining that by the end of the month. The topic of the Momentum Challenge this week was "Spicing It Up." Our leader brought a bag of things from her house, divided us up in groups of 2 or 3 and had us take something from the bag without looking. We were supposed to come up with 5-6 ways to use that item. There was food, spices, exercise band, exercise dvd, etc. I had forgotten about exercise bands. I can do that at home. I had some but must have put them in the Thrift Store bag so when I couldn't find them I went to Walmart and got me a new one. You can get free exercises using it at ifit.com and it was only $7.00. If I use that when the commercials come on tv, I can get a lot of exercise.

We had samples of Chocolate Cherrios and Raisin Bran in our newpaper bag this morning and $1 coupons for each. I ate the raisin bran with 1/2 cup of almond milk that that was 2 points. I took the chocolate cheerios coupon with me to Walmart and got a box for $1.50. I'm going to make a snack mix with that, dried cranberries, and walnuts.

Jean, the eye doctor had me get Optiv (OT) for dry eye. It helps a lot. Dry eye is caused because we don't blink enough, at least that is his opinion. I think there must be some connection with dry mouth which I have as a side effect of the many inhalers I use. Since use of inhalers can cause cataracs, I think that seems logical. I know, I should have gone to medical school.

Faye, have fun with Thomas. I'll bet he has more fun with you and Jack than his other grandparents.

I had a green pepper that I needed to use so I'm making stuffed peppers for supper and the freezer. I'll have broccoli and salad with that.

Hi, Maggie!

Good morning everybody! Wow, yesterday was so beautiful and in the 60's. Jack went and got his contacts and loves them. We bought him and swanky new pair of sunglasses so he has been going around acting like David Caruso on CSI Miami. He is such a stitch!

Thomas is here and will go home this morning. He has a pizza cooking class with his parents this afternoon. He sat at dinner last night feeding me trivia and math questions. Of course, I failed miserably, but he had fun. They were all "trick" style questions for the most part, but a couple were just straight on. Chilis was loud and busy last night. There are obviously still lots of people who spend their money on restaurants. We had a good time, came home and he played with his laptop and then went to bed. He is sitting behind me right now having a running conversation about some war game he is playing his laptop.

Susan: Congrats to you, on your losses! Almost back to where you want to be, that's great. I am going to the store today and to Fresh Market and stock up on good fruits and veggies etc and hitting the WW hard again and hopefully the weight will start coming off again from the darn hormones. That sounds great for a snack mix. I bet dried cherries would be yummy in them too. I was going to get a box of choc cheerios today so I may get some raisins or whatever to put in them.

Well, I need to get my shopping list done, get a shower, breakfast and do my chores so we can head out as soon at T goes home. The commissary isn't open late today so we have to get out there before 4 pm.

Have a great day and hopefully the sun shines today where you are. Faye

Good afternoon ladies - a beautiful day in the high 50s.

I went to church this morning and met my friend there and after Mass we took the Relay for Life quilt to the long arm quilter and chose the designs and thread for the quilt. By then it was lunch time so we stopped at Wendy's. I got the double burger off the $1 menu and a 99 cent fries that was only half full and a free senior coffee so my lunch was $2.16. That will be my french fries for another month or more. Made yet another Walmart stop after I took her home to get cat food. Cupid will only eat Friskies Prime Fillets and walmart has them 24 cans in the box so I get a box of seafood and a box of meat/poultry. I forgot it yesterday so today was punishment for forgetting. I practically had to park on the street.

Faye, I haven't been to Chili's for a long time. All citrus interfers with some medications. I can't have it within 4 hours of my Synthroid. Juice or whole fruit, it doesn't matter. Since it is acidic, it also makes GERD worse.

Maggie and Jean, hello!

I have a new applique bee we are starting tomorrow morning. More fun!

Good Afternoon, Flowers! I had good intentions of visiting here yesterday and it never happened. My house needed some extra attention with visitors coming last night so I was busy cleaning, polishing, and vacuuming most of the day. The prime rib dinner was delicious and the entertainment was light hearted and fun as always. We skipped church this morning and slept in which is very unusual for us. I guess my cleaning effort yesterday made me more tired than I realized. Our patio became a lake from all the rain yesterday so Bob rigged up a sump pump to get the water up and over the snow mountain and out into the yard. It's just gloomy here today but more rain is predictied for the next several days. We certainly don't need any more; there is talk of major flooding across the state this spring.

"Gma" -- The drug information that came with Lipitor specifically says to not eat grapefruit as it will interfere with the drug performance. I take a combination of a bp and cholesterol pill and my information says the same thing. I've worn hard contacts since '64; I can't get a strong enough prescription in soft lenses, or at least I couldn't several years ago when I tried them. I'm sure you had a fun time with Thomas. Grandchildren do keep you on your toes. I hope the commissary wasn't busy and you could whiz right through.

Susan -- Congrats on losing the 2#s! You are on your way downward once again. I've not seen the chocolate Cheerios yet. If they are brand new we probably won't see them for a few weeks which is par for the course. Lots of times I will see an ad on TV only to find it is not available here yet. I'm sure you will enjoy the applique bee!

The dryer is buzzing so I need to change loads. Have a relaxing "rest of the day" and a marvelous Monday tomorrow!

Jean -- from Iowa!

Good morning to you all! Another beautiful spring day expected here today. It tried to peek up to near 70 yesterday but only made it to mid 60's. I will definitely take that though.

The commissary was a complete zoo yesterday and we had to stand in line to check out almost half an hour. I hate those weeks. People are really kind though and don't rave and rant about it. I sat down for awhile since I had swollen feet again yesterday. They have a little table and chairs and free coffee by their deli area and I sat until Jack got to the front of the line then I joined him. I got tickled at two elderly men talking military shop. They were both in the Korean and Vietnam war and they were "rifle corpmen." Even Jack didn't know what a rifle corpman was. Anyway, they were so cute talking about their time in the Navy.

Susan: I am not a big fan of ff anymore. When they changed oil and quit putting salt on them, they weren't as yummy, which was good for me, obviously. I like the Wendy's chili with lots of hot sauce. I hate it when I have to buy heavy stuff and have to park in Timbuktu. I know you have to be glad you now have lots of kitty food for awhile. I sat and watched the shoppers go by me yesterday and had a grand time looking in their baskets to get an idea of how they eat. One of the old gentlemen is a coffee addict. He had a least 4 5 lb cans of coffee in his basket. When Kelly was in high school and Jack had a job where he traveled, we used to go pick him up at the airport and would have this goofy contests to pick someone walking by and making a story what their name was, what they did for a living, how they lived, etc. Soap Opera stuff. It would put us into giggles because we would get more and more outrageous with who these strangers were. That came to mind yesterday as I was checking out the baskets and got the giggles. I know people thought I was nuts.

Jean: I love prime rib, but it isn't somehting you can eat often. I imagine Bob will set up a pump early in your basement as I know you have problems with it flooding and looks like you are having a big melt starting. I guess I better look at the food interactions with all out meds as I do the other drugs but never think about foods too much.

I guess I better kick it into gear and get my chores done. I do have the laundry started so won't be long until I can move it into the dryer.

Have a good start to your week everyone! Faye

Good afternoon, ladies! It's up in the 60s and supposed to only improve for the next week. I hope winter is over.


The quilting bee this morning was fun. We had 11 for the first meeting and only have room for 4 more so it was a success. I had lunch at the Crab Shack with 2 of my friends.

Bible Study tonight - Matthew 19. I enjoy it so much and really miss it in the summer.

No time for personals today, but have a good evening!

Good morning to you all! It is raining to beat the band today. I have to get out and get my fruits and veggies at Fresh Market today. Yesterday, poor Jack reinjured that knee just walking around the plant so he is back to light duty wearing a brace and I had my whole day screwed up because we had to sit forever at the darn dr's office. I felt so sorry for him. He was hurting so bad and it took them nearly 4 hours to get to him. The city uses those walk in clinic things for their workmen's comp cases so of course they treat everyone like cattle.

I adjusted my weight loss to where I am now. Hopefully I can now pull this weight off for good. I have my dr appt on Thurs for the consult on the d and c. I am hoping they can do it next Friday and get it over with. We would like to have it done on Friday so Jack can take off and then have the whole weekend off in case I have any complications or such. I have never had this done so I don't know whether you feel better in a few hours or days.

Jean: It was very warm here yesterday. I think we are finally totally into spring. I am into sandal mode. I think with as much snow as you guys have had, spring is going to be a nightmare for you. I imagine there will be lots of flooding once it really gets going. Keeping my fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

Susan: Sounds like you had a very nice time. You had a big group. Do you do only group projects or do you bring your own pieces to do?

Maggie: I don't think any of us are in a terrible big hurry to get our buildings. I haven't been working on knitting for several weeks now. I go through periods like that where I am just not interested. Truthfully, I think one of my meds caused some depression. I had talked to the dr about it and she said the drug did have that side effect, but to let her know if I felt it was serious. I just noticed I didn't want to leave the house or do anything but sit in a chair. I think little by little the drugs are working themselvs out of my system and am back to normal except for the feet and leg swelling which I have to put up with. The problem is to change my meds again might lower my heart rate too much so I am just putting up with the occasional swelling.

Sounds like the washer just stopped so I better get the stuff in the dryer. I am going to fix myself some yogurt and a banana for breakfast and get my chores done.

Have a great day all! Faye

Good morning to you gals! It is balmy and warm this morning and though overcast will be a nice day I think. My dryer motor went kaputs so we have to buy a new dryer but for now I will run clothes to the laundromat and dry them a couple times a week. I want something specific and we got such a load of bunk from the people at Lowe's last night and we were both so mad that I told Jack we would just wait. They wanted nearly $350 to fix the dryer and I told the guy you could buy one for that kind of money. He told me never to buy another GE, which is all I have ever had as they are the most expensive on parts.

Tomorrow is my dr appt so we shall see what will happen there. Jack also has a recheck on his knee. You know, if they would give people proper time off instead of making them go back to work maybe they wouldn't keep having to put people back on light duty, etc. When we were at the dr's there was another guy and a woman there that were reinjured with workmen's comp. Looks to me like it costs a lot of money to keep having them have to go back to the dr. I did find out that it is an OSHA thing about them being at work though.

I am going to go pick up my contacts at Walmart, which came in yesterday, get another laundry basket, go to Fresh Market and get my fruit (the dryer bunked that up yesterday) and then take the clothes over and dry them before coming home and fixing dinner tonight. Luckily, there is a fairly new laundromat close by. I haven't used one in so long I have no idea how much it will even cost!

Maggie: Any loss is good loss as they say. Sounds like you had a great time last night. No, these clinic places could care less and a lot of times are staffed by "not the cream of the crop" doctors. They aren't that great IMO but they fulfill a need I guess. They are expensive too.

Jean: The bad thing is the rain will melt the snow, the good thing is the rain will melt the snow! Spring is trying to come your way but it looks like the temps are trying to prevent it.

Guess I better get some breakfast in me and get my chores done so I can go run errands. I don't know how long everything is going to take and want plenty of time. Have a grand day today everybody!
Faye