Good Morning! Another cold gloomy morning in my neighborhood. The fuzz balls are playing with the peanuts I put out for the squirrels but the blue jays are flying in fast to grab them - the peanuts, not the fuzz balls. I need to make a quick trip back to the grocery store because I forgot to get Cool Whip for the Snickers salad I am making for Ian’s birthday lunch on Saturday. I have a load of laundry in the washer and am seriously thinking about digging out the unused Christmas cards. I am in charge of P.E.O. courtesy through March and we send Christmas cards to out of state members who pay their dues every year. I address them and pass them out at the December meeting, then whoever takes a card writes their own message and supplies the stamp. Why they don’t join a chapter where they live is a mystery. Another thing I have to do is provide a meal for the family if there is a death. I have my fingers crossed that no one dies on my watch; others will help but I did one whole meal last year and designated the second one when we were in Maui. The second family wanted snack type munchies for the family at the funeral home visitation, much easier than a meal!

Ceejay, I’m sure Miley will be happier at home while you are gone. We have always had someone come in and feed the cat(s) as well as check the house while we are gone. I know you mentioned leaving on vacation on Thursday, Thanksgiving Thursday? I have read where some people will wait until after a holiday to pass. My thoughts are with you and your family, waiting is so hard.

Not much newsy from here today. I hope you enjoy a nice, sunny terrific Tuesday!

Good Morning! It’s a gloomy morning in my neighborhood. When it got light we had a very thick fog hanging around us. It is gone now but was a little spooky. It would have been perfect for Halloween! Ian turns 16 today and that just doesn’t seem possible. We had a lot of snow and it was very cold that day, I remember it well! I need to dust and vacuum today then will make the sweet potato casserole to take for dinner tomorrow. Some of the local stores have been advertising Black Friday sales but I haven’t seen anything I can’t live without. Amazon and I have become very good friends! WM is advertising for temporary help while they remodel the store. I can hardly wait to see what the remodel job will entail. Fewer checkers and more self service check outs I’ve been told. This old gal won’t be doing that. Amanda and Beth both do because they say it is faster than standing in line. It wouldn’t be for me!

“Gma,” I’m sorry you have been feeling so rotten. A trip to the doctor plus the ER with no answers has got to be frustrating! It would be nice if meds would work like the doctor thinks they should. I hope you get some positive answers on Monday. I know you will enjoy your time away and feel better by adjusting your insulin on your own!

I need to get busy with the duster and vacuum! Hope you all enjoy a wonderful Wednesday and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Good Morning! It’s windy, cloudy, and cold in my neighborhood this morning. “Normal!” We left home in sunshine and 45 degrees yesterday morning but the sun disappeared about half way to Jason’s. They had their usual wind and it was colder there so no one spent any time outside. We had lunch and celebrated Ian’s birthday with gifts and chocolate (of course!) cake and ice cream. He asked for a big package of AA batteries which both Beth and I gave him. Then his other grandma gave him a battery charger and rechargeable batteries so he is all set with his x-box controller for awhile. Today is vacuum dust/fur bunnies and clear off the counter. I think I am hearing an echo here!

Ceejay, hope you are enjoying your vacation!

”Gma,” what are you doing today?

Bob offered to make breakfast an hour ago and is rattling pans so guess that is my cue to do my part, the bacon and toast. Hope you enjoy a nice Sunday and do something you enjoy.

“Gma,” no snow yet. The weatherman said it would stay south between Sioux City and Omaha. In fact, it is getting lighter and there is a very faint shadow from the sun. I saw your hat picture on FB, interesting pattern. I hope your doctor appreciates your gift for him. That is my problem with both knitting and crocheting, I don’t know the stitch symbols nor how to do them. I learn better with someone showing me rather than trying to figure it out from a picture. Amanda said a grocery store chain there is also eliminating some checker lanes and going with self service. Beth has two or three of those stores and we have one here. I will not be happy if that happens. I haven’t been shopping there much since they quit carrying Jolly Green Giant canned vegetables. That same store has the cents off gas program but gradually switched that plan over to their brand or another off brand. Good luck with your appointment tomorrow.

Evening everybody! It cold today and supposed to get down to 24 tonight! Guess we may need to turn on the electric blanket.

Great dr appt. They did switch my meds and the symptoms from the other one seems to be going away, thank goodness. My bp was great, my blood sugar great, and I have lost 40 lbs since the beginning of the year. I don’t have to go back for 3 months, then they’ll check my A1C again to see how the new med is doing. Hopefully, I won’t have reaction to it. I have to go to a cardiologist on Thursday. They figure the elevated pulse was from the drug since it is back to normarl, but just to be on the safe side they’re sending me to see a cardiologist. I am tired of dr appts.

CeeJay: They are having some whopper storms in that area so enjoy the warm weather while you can.

Jean: I don’t like knitting from a chart. Drives me crazy so I just follow the instructions. His hat is kind of weird cabling for sure. When I talked to him today I ask him where he was going and he said Austin, TX so at least it will get cold enough for the hat there. He’s a sweet kid. He told me I’m his favorite patient because I’m always upbeat, always working to get better, etc. He even told me he’s asking his girlfriend to marry him New Year’s. He said it was the only time he had off. He’s probably only about 10 yrs older than Thomas. I just wish the WM would quit screwing with their stores.

Everyone have a nice evening.

Good Afternoon! It is a very dark, windy, cold day in my neighborhood. The cold feels extra cold so seemed to go right through my coat. We haven’t had a whole day of sunshine for a very long time. “Weather” of some sort is on the way this weekend, the kind depends on which weatherman is predicting. This morning was my turn to work in the gift shop. We had another sale, 25% off anything with an S in the name, object, silver colored, or sparkled. We were busy! I have bell practice later this afternoon. Yesterday we went car shopping. Bob has been looking online and thought he found what I wanted in Sioux City. The local dealer doesn’t like trade-ins so doesn’t deal well. I have a hard time getting in and out of mine, complaining too often I guess. I know I have shrunk but it’s worse in this vehicle. Turns out the car didn’t have all the bells and whistles we wanted so they will have to trade with another dealership to get one. I am going back to red, my favorite color!

Ceejay, I’m glad your are having nice weather and enjoying your vacation! Going to a French restaurant sounds like fun. Was the menu in French? I would be in trouble if it was. There is an “authentic” Mexican restaurant here and the menu is in Spanish. When it opened the family spoke very little English but would try to explain what was in the different dishes. Teachers used to eat there when we had a longer lunch break on workshop days.

“Gma,” Bob made a new house out of a cooler for the fuzz balls. He used a coffee can to make the entrance thinking the snow or rain wouldn‘t blow in as easily. They all go in but I don’t know if they stay all night. They are lined up by the door waiting for breakfast when I come downstairs in the morning. Glad to hear your doctor appointment went well and hope the med change works. on losing 40#s! Way to go! It will be interesting to watch the remodeling at WM. They are advertising for help but the candidate pool isn’t the best. The police are there daily, at least once, for shoplifters. The last one in the paper was an employee caught on camera taking money from the register. Not too smart!

I need to do some laundry so better keep moving. I didn’t sleep very well last night because of a stuffy nose, so a nap sounds inviting. Hope you enjoy the rest of a wonderful Wednesday! Off to turn the furnace up before I do anything!

Evening ladies. It was freezing this morning but warmed up to around 50 today. I have the cardiology appt first thing tomorrow so hope it’s not too bad. At least they have valet parking. He’s in the same building as the dr that did my surgeries so at least I am familiar. I don’t know what they’ll do. I am not having pain and never have, have had an ekg 2 weeks ago that was fine, my pulse is back to normal so?? We shall see, but I’m tired of doctors.

I think we’re going to go out for dinner tomorrow night. We shall see.

CeeJay Glad you’re having a great time. Caribbean weather is the best. The French are light eaters, but they are big into fattening sauces. I took French in high school and college so could probably eek by if they had a menu in frenchas I read better than speak it for sure. When do you have to come back?

Jean: I thought of you when I posted the Egyptian cartoon. What a great idea for the kitties. Hope you love your new car. I think we are going to get a van when we buy again. We’ll then put a swing arm in it to put the scooter in to travel. My older sister had a van with the arm for her husband who had MS. She was a short 5 foot but handled it herself. I have a feeling we’re gonna have weird winter this year. We will see I guess. I am ready for spring, which means baseball and a yr out to our next cruise.

Everyone enjoy your evening.

Hey everyone. We had a bit of mistiness this morning but overall an ok day. It is supposed to be in the 70’s here tomorrow. Of course I’m staying in tomorrow as it’s my day to talk with my best friend. We usually spend 2-3 hours on the phone.

You know, I really hate drs that are so full of themselves they have another dr as an assistant who pretty much runs the appt. That’s what happened today. He makes me wait in the exam room 30 minutes, breezes in with his rolling laptop thing, says, “What’s going on?” I explain the situation, he looks as his assistant, says, “Schedule an echo.” Waltzes out the door and she handled the rest of the appt. I figure we’ll do the test, which I had a little over a year or so ago and it was clear and then if they feel I need further care, I’ll switch to Dr Anderson, who is Jack’s cardiologist. I like him! I doubt it though as they did an ekg and it was fine, my pulse quit racing when we stopped that drug and my bp was 130/80. I’m just doing this because my doctor wanted the initial appt. Besides I was irked at them. The address on the letter they sent with my appt time was the same address as my surgeon. I valet parked because the walk to the offices is somewhat of a hike. I go up to the correct floor, walk the whole floor, (the floors are rectanles with the elevators in the middle.) There is no Dr with that name. So I find a bench, sit and call. They aren’t even in that building! Come to find out, they both have the same number but two different street names. The cardiologist technically is using the wrong street name. I had to walk all the way to another building, walk the whole length of it to get to the elevators to get up to the floor, then walk the whole floor to get to his office. Ugh!!! If they’d given the address right there’s handicap parking right outside the door where the elevators are. At least now I know.

We are becoming a war zone here. Geez another shooting and this ended up across the street. Another kid got shot at, but he just got hurt a bit from glass and such.

Everyone have a good evening and weekend.

Good Evening! We have had another cloudy gloomy day but warmer. The fog was very thick this morning and hung on until mid afternoon. The weather has been so weird! The weather gurus are predicting a major winter storm moving in tonight through Sunday. The city fathers are debating how to better remove snow from the streets asking for public input. That was a mistake because everyone has a different idea about that. This morning was my once a month coffee date and this afternoon I had to do the end of the week gift shop bookkeeping. With the sale on Wednesday I took $1300+ to the bank late this afternoon. I just didn’t want that much money sitting in my house over the weekend.

”Gma,” what a challenge for you to finally get to the right place for your doctor’s appointment! Aggravating and frustrating all rolled into one! Sounds like the doctor wasn’t very personable but I think a lot of specialists are like that unfortunately. Hope all the test results are ok. That is too bad about the shooting so close to you, and then to have a child being involved. Makes one wonder what is wrong with our society. I tried to hook my phone to the car Bluetooth this afternoon but couldn’t get it to work. Last time it just did it without any problem but now I wonder if it was because I was trying to do it in the garage. The buttons are a little different in this car but I like the over all size better. We gave up the 3rd seat because the grandkids have gotten so tall they don’t fit very well; we rarely have them with us very often. They can be cozy on the bench seat.

Bob has been getting the outside Santa, reindeer, and tree ready to put out in front. I was hoping he would hang the lights across the front while it was warmer today. Guess the day/night isn’t over yet. Hope you enjoy a nice evening and have a good weekend!

Good Morning! Well, the weatherman warned us and the “weather” has arrived! It started raining and blowing from the east last night. We couldn’t see anything out our front windows. This morning the wind is stronger and the driveway and street are a sheet of ice. It has started to snow off and on mixed with rain, it’s not at all nice outside. I am glad I don’t have to go anywhere today! I have laundry to do and need to address some church birthday cards as well as P.E.O. Christmas cards that I will distribute at the Monday meeting. Members will take one or two to send to out-of-state members or those in the nursing home. I think I will do some online Christmas shopping later! Hope you all enjoy a nice day, stay warm!

Good evening. We have had college football games all day, ugh!! It was warm here today but rained this morning so we just stayed in. Jack is watching Boise State. The game started out with driving rain, but the last half hour our so it’s snowing big time. The lines on the field can’t even be seen at this point. The players can’t keep hold of the ball and they’re sliding all over the place. They still have thesecond half to play. They have 11 seconds left on the second quarter and just gave it up and went to their locker rooms. The other team is from CA so they’re probably dreading going out.

Jack’s second cataract surgery is Wednesday so he’s started the eyedrops again. The steroid one burns his eye and I hate putting it in but he has to put a drop in 3 times a day for almost a month.

Jean: Hope you don’t get any of the snowstorm that’s in Idaho. Did you get a totally different make of car? I am not savvy with our computer stuff on the car. I know how to sync the phone and that’s about it. I probably could figure it out but there’s a lot of stuff to figure out. I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t want money in my house all weekend either. It’s supposed to be nice and sunny here tomorrow so we’re gonna get out and get shopping done.

Everyone have a good day tomorrow.