G'day all,

Trudy that is a bit of reality check having to apply for the aged pension

I am a bit like Lily, we don't bother too much about Valentine Day.

As I am starting this new thread I wondered what has happened to Karen, we haven't heard from her for sometime, nor from Peggy for that matter.

It cannot be that much longer before Slavika returns home, it will be a bit of a shock to the system after being away for so long, to return to 'normal' life.

DH is off to new Zealand on Monday, not sure for how long. I was going to go with him but I have so much work at the moment that I really look forward to getting heaps done whilst he is away.

I am still having some problems with my new computer, it has been a pain Hope things are going well with your new computer Lily.
I will go back to using my old computer tomorrow to see if we can rectify the problems on this new one. Computers are wonderful things until.......

Stay happy and well all,
Cheers
Maria

Just checking in . We are home again. Just arrived this evening. Long trip by car. We brought my Mom home with us for a few weeks. She has never been to Florida. And beside that she needed to get away for a while. She never left the house from December on except to go to my sons for Christmas. She did not want to leave my Dad alone. Then when he slipped into a coma on Jan. 23rd, My daughter,Daughter-in-law and sister-in -law took care of Dad. One of the girls was with him every hour of the day until he took his last breath. They bathed him gave him his pain meds. kept him comfortable. The nurse came in every day to check him out and told the girls the things they could do to keep him comfortable. They were turning him every 2 hours to keep the bed sore away. They were amazing with him. Every time they did anything they were talking to him letting him know there every move.

We were so glad that all the arrangements had been made in advance. Mom was in no shape to have to make those decisions after Dad passed.

Any way we have mom with us for a while.

I'll check back with you all later.

Good to hear from you Karen, you will enjoy having your Mum stay with you for a while.

Cheers
Maria

Karen, another blessing of your move to Florida. Your mom needed a change of scenery and I am so glad you are able to have her for awhile. She will be lost for awhile. And she and you just need to grieve. I hate it when people say it is time you should get over "it". You have to do it at your own pace and your own time. But I know you will be understanding with her.

Trudy, so glad you are able to visit the kids often. MC sounds like a wonderful baby and your angel is just at a funny age. The things they say! And don't feel old about the pension, just feel blessed that you will be so wealthy. Do something fun with it. I have a best friend who has never worked outside the home. Her husband worked for Luscent and took early retirement. They are both home and babysit grandkids fulltime. She just is very, very closed, just doesn't do much away from the house and I get messages all the time about how teary she is and depressed. When I say, get out of the house, join a club, travel somewhere, she just gets so shakey. I never want to be that way. I know none of us here are that way. I know you will find a way to do something fun. I love grandchildren, but so glad I don't care for them fulltime.

Where in the world is Peggy? and Jaynee (sp?), need your help to stay on my regimen. I lose so slowly. Ann, are you still on Core? Lily, we are freezing here today. I know I have said I miss winter. I don't.
Glenda

Well it went back to freezing over night. So cold this morning at least for me.
Spring has left!

Karen Good to hear from you. Your Mom will love being with you for a while. She certainly can use a change of scereny right now.

Maria: I have had no Problems with my computer. Only problem I had was the Palm Piolt S/W and I found it on the internet so I'm all set up! Sorry you are having problems.

Well must go to Trader Joes.

Yes where is Peggy?

Canada had come to Massachusetts. We are in a deep freeze through, at least, tomorrow. Don't know what will come after that.

Trudy... Oh, my....never had to leave home for any of my kids parties. Get that was a good thing.

Karen... My sympathies to you and your family. It is a good thing that your Mother can come to your home for a while. It will be a chance for a change of scenery for her and a chance for you both to be together.

Had my yearly physical last week and all went well....I have been given a go for the next year. I am a very fortunate person as I don't have many physical problems. Eye problems and cholesteral but those are being handled. Will have my mammogram late in March....oh joy!!!!

Lily...I have just found Trader Joe's here and I love it. Don't do all my shopping there but for certain items there is nothing like it.

Maria...Sorry you are having problems with your computer but I am sure, with your computer talents, you will solve it.

Ann, Slavika, Glenda , Peggy....hope all is well with you!

Gloria

Trudy: I would never make it if I was them. I would be sleeping at the casino
Well more like the movie then dragged myself to the Casino and sleep some more

Gloria: It my time for all those lovely tests. I have the first next month. Im so looking forward to it But it has to be done ~Sigh~
I dont do all my shopping at TJ's either, but I do get half. Love some of thier meats, Veggies, milk, canned goods. I also get my Whole Wheat Noodles there. Alot cheaper than the grocery. And they have some Yummy Frozen dinners. Love thier Chicken Chow Mein. Very Low Points and so easy to make. Open bag and cook. My kinda quick meal!
They have a shrimp one to, cant remember the name.

Hi everyone: I am back from among the missing. I just have to keep plugging along and get to our thread a bit more often. I do read, but just never seem to find the extra minutes to post, or maybe I'm just making excuses.

Karen: Glad to hear you are home. And it will be so good for you and your Mom to have time together. Your kids did a masterful job in caring for your Father. I think Mother/Daughter time is very precious. We are going to be in Plant City on Tuesday for our appointment with the dermatologist and we will be going to Buddy Freddies again. So, if you all feel like coming over, we'd be happy to see you, and meet your Mom, and I can just give you a hug. But if not, I sure understand.

Glenda: I lost well on the Core and so then I went back to the Flex and today I had gained 1.6, so am now going to stay on the Core. I think that I must have a problem with some carbohydrates, and so just have to leave them alone. Especially bread. and I do like it.

Trudy: Your Grandkids sound like lots of fun. And isn't it nice to be able to come home and turn them back to their parents? I think thaat could be called love 'em and leave 'em. You are truly having winter. What a shock for Sally to come home to full-blown winter. A big change from Hawaii. And Trudy, being a part of the 'older' adults will not be so bad. You'll find all sorts of things to keep you busy and satisfied.

Gloria: you sure have had your share of winter, from much snow to the freezing cold. I am happy to be here in the Florida sunshine. Glad your physical turned out okay. It is always a good feeling to know things are well.

Maria: I think you are into the retirement mode very well. Just keeping busy, and as someone said, after awhile you will wonder how you ever had time to work. Gut I know for me, the fun thing is that I can do all the things I didn't have time to do when I was working and bringing up kids. I loved your photos of the Ocean rd. You do take nice photos.

Lily: Somehow I never think of freezing temps in California. I forget about the mountain sking. Glad your new 'puter' is working well. I have been taking some computer classes, learning how to use Excel and Word to a better advantage. I had sorted some stuff out by myself, but there are so many shortcuts that I didn't find.

Jaynee: I think I have your family sorted out some. We also have a combined family, so when I say we have 14 grandchildren and 3 greats, it is from our combined families. Are you still having success with the WW plan?

Peggy: Have you been snowed in? I know there has been some goofy winter weather. Been doing anything 'crafty'?

Sally: Guess y ou will soon be back in the snowy world. We'll be looking forward to hearing your adventures.

We had a quiet Valentines day. DH brought me a nice pot of tulips, a breath of spring, and I made him his favorite cookie. Filled sugar cookies. I made a filling of figs and dates. And there aren't any left now.

I've really been busy with all sorts of stuff. An all day meeting last Sat. at church for the extablishing of a new Sunday School Program. Wednesday a group of us went to a talent Showcase. Saw a lot of good talent and was able to make a booking for our park in November. With another friend, we are charing a chili dump this next wed. We'll be making cornbread and salad, and everyone brings their favorite chili recipe and we dump them all intogether. One pot for spicy and one for mild. It usually goes over well.

We have so many activities while the full population is here in the park. And I am responsible for getting all the entertainment. There was a Valentine dance tonight but now we don't dance anymore. I would but DH just can't do it anymore.

And then my other activitie is to drive cars for a Nissan dealership. There are several of us here in the park. They have a special sale at the Mall and so we drive the cars from the dealership to the mall. Then after the weekend is over we bring back the ones not sold. I rather enjoy doing it, and I get a chance to try out a lot of different vehicles. Cars, trucks SUV's and lots of different cars, not all Nissan. This was their used car sale.

So you see I have not been goofing off. And then there is the chorus. Our show will be March 13th. I'll be glad when it is finished.

I have been watching the Winter Olympics. It is hard to understand that people win by tenths of a second. What speed. I do enjoy the figure skating. We have also been watching Dancing with the Stars. I do think that the final contest will be between Stacie and Drew. They have both been fantastic.

Guess I have rambled on long enough, and it is time for bed. Goodnight all and have a nice rest of the weekend. Ann

G'day all,

Nice to see all the posts this morning.

Lily I have worked out my computer problem An old chap (87) wrote his memoirs some time ago, he now wanted to add some stuff to it and asked if I could do that. So far so good, he had his 200 odd pages on several floppy disks. He wanted to have all the floppies combined plus the extra that I would do for him and have his full memoir on a CD.
After many hours of my computer freezing etc. etc. all the floppies had corrupted files on them and by transferring them to my hard drive, corrupted the word file I was adding my stuff to and froze my computer
It has been very time consuming isolating what the cause for it all was but I have now found the problem
Hope I didn't bore you too much with these details but it just illustrates that NOTHING is really all that simple when it comes to computers.

Trudy I think I would be staying the night at a motel or something rather than trying to kill time till 3 am

Ann I am bit tired after reading what you have been up to Our local version of 'Dancing with the Stars' starts again on Tuesday after the summer lay off. I love watching it, love the gorgeous dresses they all wear , it is just a generally happy show.

Gloria Good to hear all went well with your physical. As we continue to investigate and plan for our trip to America next year, we understand that Massachusetts is a beautiful part of America to visit. We are planning for April next year so I wouldn't have thought it would be too cold then.

Hello to everyone else, hope you are all well.

Cheers
Maria

Ann, I think last year it was Peggy who was talking about Dancing With the Stars. We accidentally got involved at the first and now just are addicted. It was fun to see how long the rapper would last because of his popularity. Now, although I like Jerry Rice, I think the same thing with him. He is just not that good, but he is popular. I love Drew and Stacey is just amazing. Ann, I probably would do much better with the Core program too, I just can't do it. I would lose much better if I were on the program ALL week, not just 6 days. Oh well.

Sounds like Trudy has sent us all some nice cold freezing weather. Yuck! I am walking about everyday after work at our Student Union. I make 6 big loops and people look at me funny and I just don't care. I enjoy walking in a warm place.

Lily and Maria, you are our computer experts. Maria, I so understand about corrupting files. Here at work before we got smart about spam I opened something that infected my computer and (have I told you this story?) I sent a porno message to the Vice President at OSU/Tulsa. That was so embarrassing. Of course, "I" didn't but my infected computer did.

We saw the movie "Eight Below" about the dogs left in the Antarctic during the winter. It was so emotional to me, seeing these eight dogs struggle to survive, but it was a good movie. The acting was atrocious, but the dogs were great.

Hope it warms up a big before Slavika gets back. What a shock!
Glenda

G'day all,

A beautiful warm summer's day here today and I am about to embark on my biggest challenge so far in my little career as a web designer!!!!!
I think I told you I got a job for a website a few weeks ago, I have been working on it just about every day and now all the graphics etc are ready to be assembled as a website! The CEO of the company has been very demanding (in a good way) and some of his requests have been very challenging but I have been able to do them.
He is the one who is paying me $1000, he emailed me last night and said he realises the price would have to be adjusted because I spent so many hours on it. My price remains the same, I just feel what I have learnt is just priceless and I have enjoyed it all.
Once the site is finished and up and running, I will email the address so you can have a look at my handy work The site is boring, an engineering firm

Glenda I am prety sure Lily would agree but I don't think there is such a thing as a computer expert...well perhaps Bill Gates and the like...that is what I like about computers, you will NEVER know it all and therefore you would never be an expert, perhaps Lily and I know a bit more then the average person and there will be some things that Lily will know much better than I do and visa versa.
I am so pleased I worked out that it was a corrupted Word document that caused my problem and all is going well now.
On the core program, if only I could stick to any sort of program for a bit more than a couple of days

DH is in New Zealand at the moment, he will be back again on Friday.

Cheers
Maria

Glenda: I agree with you about Jerry Rice. I was so surprised that they kept him rather than Lisa. I think she made much more progress than Jerry. I do believe that it will come down to Drew and Stacy for the final two. My favorite is Stacy, but I think that as the male Drew has a harder job, since he has to lead.Time will tell the outcome.

Maria: What would make a corrupted file? I'm not having any problems right now, and don't want any. We too are beginning to have some nice weather again. We have had some very foggy mornings, but when the sun comes up it all burns off.

I think it is interesting that our taking the 'star' quiz is showing us to be all close. Even tho' the star names are different, the points between them all are very closely related. It seems that we have all done some other of these 'tests' and we have come out close together. Could that be why we have become such longtime friends? :

We have had some car trouble, and it is presently in the garage. They gave us a BIG truck to drive, as a loaner. But we are suppossed to get the car today. What a pain. Originally they told us it might be Monday.

Our Chile party went very well. We had so much chile left over that anyone who wanted some was able to take a container back home. The White Chile was the only batch that was totaly used up.

Have to get going, as we go to get the car right after breakfast. Hi everyone. Have a good day. Ann

G'day everyone,

The joys of living in a small city DH arrived back from New Zealand this morning. He rang me at home as soon as he arrived, by the time he had gotten through customs etc., he was out the front of the airport terminal, and I drove up!!! He is pretty tired after his 5 hour flight but is pleased to be home again. He may have to go for 3 weeks, I will probably then join him in the middle of those three weeks.

Ann well that is the million dollar question 'what would make a corrupted file'. It is generally well known that files on floppys are very often corrupted. Not sure why that is the case. It really was a process of elimination to find out why my computer froze. I would work all day in a certain software application, no problems, the minute I opened Word and worked on the application from the floppys, computer just froze.

The website I am doing for a customer is coming along quite well, at least I am sleeping a bit better now!!

I had my hair cut yesterday and really went a bit crazy and now have VERY short hair. DH says it looks fine but i am not so sure.
DH normally does not notice when I have my hair cut, he did this time though!!!!!!

It is a very warm, humid day here today I really dislike humidity.

Hope you are all well,
Cheers
Maria

Maria: I agree I dont think any ones is an expert on a puter. Certainly not me My husband is way smater than I am when it comes to puters thats for sure. Glad you figured out what was wrong with yours.

Glenda: How embarassing that that happened to you. Oh my gosh! I got a email from my manager once, or so I thought. I followed the link it was my manager right? Not! I got a Virus. I never follow links at home or open up any emails I dont knpw who its from. You would think you would be safe at work but your not.

Ann: So many things can corrupt a file. Its hard to say. It happens at work alot and we have to bring them back from an earlier backup. Maria is right Floppys just arent good to keep things on. Cds are bettter but they can still get corrupted. And who is to say how. Not me.

Finally nice here again. Dont know how long it will last tho.
Been clenaing most the day. Trying to get it out of the way so I can relax tomorrow. Not gonna do anything special just want to relax and enjoy!