I couldnt come up with anything new so I used the same one from last year, I hope thats okay.

Its Sept. 1st so its time for a new thread.

Let's make Sept. our best month yet.

Thanks for setting up the new thread Terra!

I'm going to have to come back later for personals - I have to go to the Thrift Shop today and am supposed to be there early to help a friend unload some donations (and maybe shop from her car) and I am running late.

Happy September!!!! Can you believe how the year is flying by? And taking all our money with it? I'll be back later ladies.

Good morning ladies,

On the way into work, I got a migraine...so once I got here, I took some Excedrine migraine with my breakfast. I know I'm not supposed to take any NSAIDS (no aspirin, no ibuprofen) because they can cause problems for my teeny stomach pouch, but Tylenol alone doesn't cut it when it comes to migraines. Heck, even Vicodin only gets rid of a migraine for a little while. So I asked the doc about Excedrine, and he said that if I take it with food...and not very often...it would be ok. The migraine is still there, but much less intense.

Yesterday after work, I met a friend at the dog park. Today after work, my friend Mark and I are going to do running/walking intervals. The 10K race we signed up to do is just over 3 weeks away. I would like to be able to run half of the race (in intervals), and I'd like to be able to finish in less than 2 hours (which would equate to an average 20 minute mile).

My friend who lives in Vegas and I emailed back and forth yesterday trying to figure out what we're going to do during my visit on the weekend of Sept. 12th. We may drive a few hours to Zion Canyon and do some hiking. For many years, I've wanted to see Bryce and Zion Canyon National Parks. Bryce is a bit far to get to on a weekend trip. Maybe in 2016, I visit her for longer than a weekend. We may also get our hair done or go to some Las Vegas museums (like the Neon Museum or the Mobster Museum). Or we may take in a show...if I can find one for not too much money.

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Happy - I'm glad the pest control guy got rid of the bats. I know how annoying and unpleasant it can be to have those uninvited pests in your home. Don't get me wrong, I think bats are awesome and serve a great purpose...but stay outta da house, right? What a nightmare to have that woman back into your brand new SUV, especially when she could've asked you to move it. That happened to me once. I was visiting my sister and their across the street neighbor wasn't accustomed to having anyone park on the street, so he backed his car right into my driver's side door and totaled the car. So sorry to hear that you've been having a lot of expenses lately.

Annie - Smart for you to really put a budget on the wedding. Weddings can be so expensive. Do you have a friend that can be the photographer or the videographer?

Terra - Thanks for setting up the new thread. I really do hope the pounds start falling off. I'm doing great with the exercise. I need to get back to tracking my food and watching portion sizes. Even though I'm exercising a lot, it's not enough to make up for overeating.

Gotta get going....lots to get done today.

Much love,

CHELLE...yes the Sam and Chris have a friend that does photography. She usually charges 800 to 1000 for a wedding. She is only charging the kids 400. bucks, putting it on a CD and then they can develop the pictures that they want. So that is a major savings. The DJ is a guy that Sis went to high school with and knows him pretty well. He is also giving her a discount. The cake is a gift from another friend from HS, her mother does cakes. All and all it is not too awful bad. But I would rather take a vacation than pay for a wedding. lol.

TERRA...thanks for starting the new thread.

HAPPY...can you bend over yet? Watch out unloading the car at the thrift shop.

September 1st.....Let me see, HAPPY, wanna start the new thread? Worldlies Sashsaying into September

Met Sissy at the Moose Lodge to pay for the catering. I told her not to go over 1000. We are doing appetizers and 2 kegs of beer, tea, water, everything else is on the guest. No open bar. Total came to 987.50. I think I am done paying for wedding/reception stuff. This has been a VERY expensive year with the taxes and this wedding. I think HAPPY and I are sailing the same boat. Time to abandon ship HAPPY! Ready to jump Thelma? Love Louise.

CEEG...glad your work days have been smooth. Makes work a little less like work. wink. A friend of mine, her mother had the eyelid surgery. It does make a difference according to her mother.

LAURA...Yes I am not looking forward the the 90 degree temps and humidity clear through labor day weekend. It is so hard on C and is a drenched, smelly mess when he comes home from work. First thing he does is jump in the shower. The girls here and I were going to walk down to Mass Ave for lunch, but it is 5 blocks one way. Too dang hot to do that. Probably move that out a couple of weeks. Retirement- I am really quite far off to do a count down clock, seems like wishing life away.

CHELLE...I am like you, looking forward to the 3-day weekend! You need to take one of the days and do completely nothing. Just rest.

Hello to all make it a great Tuesday/night.

Hugs

Morning all. Hot and humid today and I got to work hot and sticky. Thankfully, it wasn’t stuffy in the office like it usually is and I cooled off quickly - thanks to ME asking our office services manager to crank up the AC yesterday. Our building has some certification having to do with energy and environmental design and they’ve gone a bit too far about conserving energy (IMO). Heat and AC get turned way down/off over the weekends, and it’s been stuffy in here all summer. Not wanting to be a whiner, I just used my fan to cool off. Finally yesterday, knowing the entire week was going to be hot as heck, I whined and someone came and turned the AC up a bit. Yay.


Ceejay – I hope you get that eyelid surgery if it does affect your vision. As for your retirement – we spend our lives working and doing other things because we have to do them (i.e., to survive), and it sucks up most of our time. Now you’ll have a lot more flexibility about what you do with your time and you should spend it how and where you want. You’ve worked and saved and you deserve it!! (That’s not being conceited – your life really is all about you!

Terra – Thanks for setting us up with our new thread! I like the title, even if it’s a repeat. I sure need some pounds to fall off me.

Annie – Wow, you’ve been shelling out a lot for this wedding, but that’s the way it goes with a big party. Very generous of you, and it’s wise that it’s not big and elaborate and the kids aren’t going to go into debt for it!! (Hope you haven’t either, LOL.) Good decision not to walk the 5 blocks there and back at lunchtime. Why get all hot and sticky if you don’t have to? I’m so glad to ride the bike between home and the train. It’s walking from the train to the office that’s a PITA when it’s this warm out.

Happy – Hope the shop gets some good donations (and you get some good deals for yourself). Yup, the year sure is flying by. How are your eyes doing?

Michelle – Hope the migraine goes away. Glad you can take exedrin for it. Your Vegas trip sounds like it’ll be fun. It’ll be great to get to a national park and do some hiking.

Hi Dee – how are you feeling?

Susie – Have any plans for the Labor Day weekend??

Shad - You out there?? Come up for air every once in a while, okay??
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Nothing much to report. My Pilates class was good – excellent instructor and she keeps the class moving. There are actually two guys in class this time around. That’s a first from my experience with this class. No class next Monday because it’s Labor Day, so it’ll be two weeks until the next one.

I think I’ll do an at-home workout tonight. What I might do is go through the VHS tapes and when I find a workout that I don't currently have DVR'd, I'll set it to record to the DVR and exercise to it while it records. The stash of VHS tapes I came across while cleaning out the tv stand cabinet has several more Body Electric workouts on them. Many are repeats of what I've already recorded to DVR/DVD, but there might be a few more that I don't already have, and that's a good thing to fill out my BE workout collection.

That’s it, time to post. Have a great day everyone.

The morning started off pretty good until I checked the filters and noticed that one was draining. I knew what that meant but went down stairs to verify that the effluent valve had fallen over. Had to call the maintenance man. That put the guys behind on their jobs so I'm getting to deal with the aerator being cleaned out in the morning first thing. Ugh, that sure does put a mess of stuff/iron in the water that I have to deal with all day.
Retirement is still on my mind but after this week end I will know for sure in which city I will live. This will be some relief off my mind. Wish I didn't think about this so much. I'm getting anxious and excited at the same time. That's the OCD that is trying to surface. I lack in patience.
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Terra
Thanks for setting up the new thread. Can't believe it's September already.

Michelle
I loved the Zion Canyon trip that I went on with my sis and bil years ago. A beautiful place.

Annie
Soon the wedding will have taken place. Then a vacation is in you future.

Happy
Have a good day at the thrift store.

Sorry, just too knackered to comment when I get home at night. These 13 hour days are morphing into 14 hour days and I get tired. Must be getting old.

Just looking at my time sheet for last month. I have worked 25 full days out of the 31 in the month and the majority of them are over 12 hour days. No wonder I feel constantly tired.

Hi all,

Try to get a decent post in here. $700 later we got the bats taken care of. Nice guy came out - recently started his own business. He was very thorough and we'd recommend him. He said August is when prego moms go looking for a place to give birth and raise their babies. This year they picked our house. There was a colony of brown bats - they are about 12 inches long - from the one flying in the house I estimated it to be about as long as my wrist to my elbow. Like Michelle, I realize the value of them but don't really want them INSIDE of my house. I didn't get much done at the thrift store - seemed to flit around a bunch of things and many conversations. Trying to help one person find some stuff with books, 3 other people had questions, trying to do some cashiering when needed, did a couple of look ups for pricing. Left feeling like I didn't accomplish very much. Came home, made dinner and then I had to run back to the shop to run some additional credit card transactions through from the weekend's fund raiser. I have to do it after shop hours so as to not mix up fundraiser from regular charge sales. I drove myself and it was 7pm so I was chasing the daylight. The surgery did nothing to improve my night driving vision. DH said it took months before his got right again. Tomorrow we are supposed to go on the 3 hour sunset boat cruise. So far they have added evening thunderstorms in addition to the morning forecast but only a 40 percent chance. I don't think it's going to be a good cruise. We have to decide if we want to get there 90 minutes ahead of time to get in line for an upstairs seat in the open only to possibly be rained on or take our chances on the lower deck at a window seat (if we get early seating again) that may or may not open. I'm disappointed. And the stock markets that looked like they might recover last week's downturn dumped again today. That puts DH is a very touchy mood and he will complain about all sorts of money topics. Lordy I hate that. I was talking to my friend at the shop today and she said her DH is the very same way. Oh well, what can you do?

Shad - you are working terribly long hours. No wonder you are dragging. Please make sure you are taking care of yourself. It's very hard to sustain that kind of drive for very long. Haven't they heard of "the hurrier I go, the behinder I get?" Don't worry about posting, make sure you get enough rest so you don't get sick.

Ceejay - I think it's natural to think about the retirement. It's a big step. Better that you think about it than to go into it blindly. The only problem is if you over think it and start wavering back and forth. I can understand how the uncles might be persuasive to get you to stay where you are now. They will miss you. Lots. It sounds like the eye surgery will benefit you a lot.

Laura - I used to dread this time of year at the office - cool one week, sweltering the next and they could never get the office temperature adjusted correctly if things fluctuated too much. So that's why I had both a small fan AND a heater at my desk. Made my own weather Glad you are liking the Pilates class but 2 weeks is a long time to do without. Perhaps you can do a video next week to make up for the holiday. My eyes are doing ok, thanks for asking. I can't wait until mid month when he can give me a prescription for eyeglasses and I won't have to keep looking for cheaters all the time and will be able to see close and far away. I think I also need a bit of a boost on the distance vision. We'll see. I can't remember if you said you had tomatoes in your garden - if so, this last burst of heat should be turning lots of them red. Any sign of fall colors in your trees. Some of ours are starting to pop. Started with a little branch here and there but we are seeing more signs of color and the hummingbird numbers have dwindled substantially. I hope it's not indicative of another early and frigid winter. I have always loved the brilliant golds of the maples out by you. Would make for a really pretty bike ride. Did you find a replacement bike?

Annie - yikes no kidding you have a lot of expenses with this wedding. I commend you both for trying to find the most cost effective means. It's all about the marriage, not the party. I hope they have a lovely, intimate celebration that they both enjoy. With good pictures So did you say you found shoes after all? Ugh on the hot weather and 5 block walk - I would have skipped it too. Did C get his CPAP yet? Are you sleeping any better? You got it sister - I am more than ready to jump out of the money pit!

Michelle - sorry to hear the migraines have returned. Excedrin always ripped up my stomach - it's a really strong pain reliever. Not sure if it's because it has extra caffeine in it or what. I'm glad it helped you a little but be careful you don't stress that tiny tummy. Bummer that you can't get to Bryce this year - maybe next year with more planning / saving. I hope you find a nice show to see. I loved the Beatles LOVE at the Mirage but it was a pricey show as are most of the Cirque De Soleil. Maybe there's a website you can get last minute tickets at for reduced prices.

Terra - I'm hoping the pounds fall off this month too - good choice of a thread title. How is school coming along?

Hi Susies and Dee - hope you can check in soon.

My peepers are closing. DH has the air conditioning up kind of high and it's cold in here which makes me sleepy. And kitty seems to be looking for something to eat so let me get her something. Have a good hump day everyone.

Happiest of Hump Days Peeps...

C goes to the sleep doctor this afternoon at 3pm. He will find out what they are going to do with him. I wish I could go, but I am holding down the fort this week at work while VP is out of the office. I asked C to take good notes, literally, cause he forgets half the stuff they tell him.

Last night we ordered a veggie, thin crust pizza from Pizza Hut. It was actually good. We like the thin crust cause you get to taste more of the veggies rather than dough. I ate two slices. C ate 4 slices and 3 breadsticks. He will have the rest today for lunch, before the doctor visit.

We are getting some produce out of our garden. Scragglers. A couple of tomatos here and a couple of cukes there. We did get 4 cukes that were hiding out of the garden last night. Will probably fix cukes, tomato and onions on Thursday to go along with the pork loin roast that will brew in the crocker tomorrow. My brother may come for dinner. Depends on what is going on in his world. His 3 sons are laying a wood floor in his house for him and depending on when they show up will determine if he comes for dinner. Michael is trying to get everything done so that Pia<--his wife, will not have much to deal with later.

I actually started my yikky reports yesterday afternoon and now have very little to get done on them today. Yeah! Good thing, new month makes for the monthly reports to start. Just saw that the stats from last month were put in Tracker system which mean get ready, get set, go! There are 4 monthly reports and they build on each other. Get one done, use part of the numbers to do the next and on and on till all 4 are done. Takes about 3 days to do them all. That is if there are no interruptions. Yeah right like that is going to happen. NOT.

HAPPY...Bummer about the weather and the cruise. Kind of scary, we all have our fingers crossed and prayers being said for great weather for September 12, Sissy's outdoor wedding. Yikes. $700. for bat rescue, hmm, makes me want to get out my pea shooter. This has been an expensive year for both of us. Medical, kids, bats, animals, sheesh, must mean 2016 will be the year for incoming monies, instead of outgoing. We are due to hit the lottery.

SHADDIE...no worries on posting, you know we all love you, and we have all had times when posting was not at the top of our lists. Post when you can, even if it is just "Hi". Do you get a flat rate for your contract or do you get extra for the extra hours. Somehow it doesn't seem fair not to get extra pay!

LAURA...We have no fluctuation at our office on the office temps. It is always a freezer in here all year long. I have a space heater under my desk but if I run it too long, omg a headache from hello comes on and my nose dries out. So either way, suffering. No debt so far on the wedding, it has been saving for this, paying for that as we go along. We have done a little at a time so it was all one huge expense at once. Hmmm, guys at your exercise class, eye candy as you work out? Somehow I don't think so, but you never know.

CEEG...hope you have a great time at your sister's house. With retirement or anything that needs a decision...Don't make any decisions on emotional thoughts, make them on sensibility. Go with your gut instinct or your first choice that is usually your best bet. Also think about your uncles ages, health, how long will they be around? So you stay where you are and they are gone with no one around for YOU or go to your sisters and maybe have more time around family. Just a thought.

Hi to the rest of you lovely ladies..Susie, Dee, Terra, Chelle.

Make it a great Wednesday/night. Hugs

The filters are a nice color of orange but not a lot I can do about it. I'll keep checking the iron level's to make sure. May check the filters today as well. Speaking of orange, the sunset was beautiful last night. It's color was tangerine with purple and gray. Looked like the sun was actually setting on the Earth. I noticed that I didn't have much day light after I got home like I usually do. Guess I'd better get used to the fact it's going to be Fall soon.
Just turned around to look at the filters. Oooooh, it's orange. The iron is here.
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Annie
I am looking forward to seeing my sis and her family especially her grand children.

Shad
I know you have to be tired both physically and mentally. Sending you good vibes to give you some energy.
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Need to run some test on the water and I'm going to have to back wash this filter to get this stuff out of here.

Morning all.

Ceejay – Not surprised that retirement is very much on your mind - it’s not that far off! Sounds like things have calmed down for you at work… for now. When do you leave for your sister’s?

Shad – Don’t worry about posting much or often, we just want to know you’re still alive every so often. Please try to get rest when you can – that’s a lot of hours you’re working!

Happy – Glad the bat issue has been resolved. Yikes, those are some big bats! Is that the wing span? I see you are keeping busy as usual. I hope the weather will be good for your cruise, and that it presents some good photo opportunities for your dh. You write about a 3 hour sunset boat cruise and now I have the Gilligan’s Island theme song in my head, LOL. --- Well, the stock markets will do what they do. I sure hope the bucket of money you have in stocks isn’t needed for a while. And I sure hope the Chinese economy can’t singlehandedly tank the worldwide financial markets… ---Yeh, gonna be working out on my own until the next Pilates class. --- I guess patience is the key with this eye surgery recovery. But I bet you have a whole new level of appreciation for your vision!--- Yes, I have two tomato plants in the garden and they are going gangbusters right now – one sweet 100 red cherry and one yellow grape variety. I’m taking a small container of them to work each day to snack on. And I’ve given some away, and will surely be giving more away before they are finally done.--- Nope, haven’t seen any fall color yet around here. Not ready for that yet anyways. -- Yep, hope to get out for a bike ride - a recreational one! As for the commuter bike, yes, I now have a pre-ridden Schwinn Excursion 3-speed (new-ish, NOT vintage). It’s a hybrid style and rides fine, and it’s nice that it has an aluminum frame – lighter weight than the old vintage Schwinn’s I had in the past for my commute bike. Funny you asked about that – bf just today decided he’s going to strip down the 3 vintage Schwinn bikes we have sitting around of any sellable (saleable?) parts and dispose of the rest. Two of those bikes were my past commuter bikes, and one was given to us by a neighbor cleaning out his house who thought we might use it for parts or something. (We never did.)

Annie – Hope the doc has a good plan for C’s sleep issues. I know the idea of a cpap is probably not palatable for him, but if it will improve the quality of his sleep and possibly SAVE HIS LIFE, I hope he’ll be receptive to it. I’m sure you will provide the nudge… --- A few times a year bf and I eat deep dish pizza, but normally we always order thin crust. And I don’t like a large quantity of toppings, especially cheese – makes it too heavy. --- Good your brother is taking care of things while he can so it’s not going to add to all that the family will have to deal with later. --- I prefer the office to be cooler – at least I can put on more clothes as needed! --- Nope, the guys in Pilates class aren’t eye candy, just average. Dang.

Hellos to the rest of you!
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Last night I went to the basement to exercise and got a bit sidetracked – on the tv stand shelf pushed way in the back, I came across our previous dvd player (replaced by a Blu-Ray play a while back). I decided to bring it upstairs to hook it up to our bedroom tv, which has been without a working dvd player for a while now. After that, I fast forwarded through an old vhs tape to get to two particular BE shows at the very end of the tape (of course). A PITA, but it paid off because I found one BE show I didn’t already have on the DVR. So I recorded that to the DVR while working out to it. I can now get rid of at least three vhs tapes. Thank goodness these tapes are labeled somewhat accurately.

That was it for yesterday. Nothing going on today. Bf is getting together with a friend tonight. I’m thinking I should go to ATT to get my cell phone looked at, but I hesitate to go without having bf with me. He’s much better with this stuff than me. I think it can wait.

Okay, gonna get this posted and run out for some lunch. TTFN.

SO on my lunch 30 minutes I sat here and hemmed my too long pants I have on today. These are pants I used to where with heels and have not been able to wear heels in 3 years due to ankle/knee issues. It was a chore cause I wore them as I hemmed. Luckily no one came to see me during lunch. lol.

LAURA...I have a ton of VHS tapes that need moved over to discs. Especially of the kids when they were little. Christmas' and birthdays, ballgames, school stuff, etc. Of course about the time I get them moved over something else will come out better and I will have to move them again. bleh.

CEEG...your sky sounded beautiful. Too bad you didn't get it captured on camera.

Gotta go, lunch is over and I need to leave early today.

My day has been busier than normal but so far I have had no problems with all that excess iron that was dumped from the aerator being cleaned. It was nasty. You should have seen the person that cleaned it. I asked him if his wife was going to hose him down before he went inside their home. I would have.

Annie
I've never hemmed a pair of pants while I had them on. I am taking a couple of pair for my sister to help me with measuring the length. I have turned the pants wrong side out then turned up the hem.
I wish at times for a better camera other than my phone. But I don't think it would be worth the expense.

Laura
I'm leaving Friday for the trip to Missouri. I can't decide to come back a couple of days earlier than planned. It takes me a bit longer to bounce back.